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ISF 375 

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S H E E P: 



THEIR 



BREEDS, MANA&EMENT, ANB DISEASES. 



BY 

WILLIAM YOUATT, 



NEW EDITION. 
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY COL. M. C. WELD. 

TO WHICH AEE ADDED 

Eemarks on tlie Breeds and Management of Sheep in tlie 
United States. 



1^ 



V'' 



IliLUSTBATED. 




/ 



NEW YORK: 

OEANGE JUDD COMPANY, 

751 BROAD AV AY. 

1885. 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1885, by the 

OKANGE JUDD CO.MPANi', 

la the Ofl5ce of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



INTEODUCTION TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 



As a popvilar writer, Mr. Youatt has few superiors. A thoroughly 
practical man himself, he had the happy ability to render clear to his 
readers the important facts upon which he writes as they are pre- 
sented to his own mind. Fond of history, he always gives to his- 
torical facts concerning the various breeds a prominent place, 
reasoning that knowledge of the steps by which any breed has been 
brought to the condition in which we find it, will enable breeders to 
follow out a judicious line of imi^rovement. A veterinary surgeon, 
he brings a thorough knowledge of anatomy, and of the principles of 
medicine and surgery as apphed to domestic animals, to aid him in 
instructing unprofessional men how to breed, rear, and care for their 
flocks. Thus the author was peculiarly adajited to his task, and it is 
not surprising that the public demand edition after edition of his 
works. There is much in Youatt's large work upon sheep, originally 
published by "The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge," of 
little or no interest to American sheep-raisers. This was wisely omit- 
ted by the American editor, the late Mr. Stevens, in the preparation 
of this work. Breeds of sheep are subject to constant variation. 
Fashion often dictates the development of unimportant characteris- 
tics, as well as the prominence of certain breeds. The general prin- 
ciples of the breeding and care of sheep remain fixed, as well as the 
history of the great improvements made in the mutton breeds. 
These give this work especial value, and in connection wit'h the ex- 
cellent hygienic views of the author, and his wise suggestions as to 
veterinary practice, render it a safe guide and companion to the 
flock-master. 

The structure of the wool fibre, the fine serrations upon its sur- 
face, the relations between these serrations and the curls in the fibre, 
and the dependence of the felting property of wool and wooly furs 
upon the number and character of the serrations, were original dis- 
coveries of Mr. Youatt. This whole subject, admirably treated and 
fully illustrated as it is in this volume, gives it a great and peiinanent 
value to the wool-grower. 

The economic importance of sheep to man, and their adaptation 
to his needs, excite our wonder and admiration. Semi-barbaric 
tribes clothe themselves with their pelts, and live upon their flesh 
and milk. The simple arts of spinning, weaving, and dyeing woolen 
fabrics existed among eastern nations from the first dawn of ci\'iliza- 
tion down to the present time. The sheep follows man wherever he 
goes, except within the Arctic circle. Wherever barley will grow, 
sheep will thrive. One breed or another is found suited to advancing 
(3) 



4 IXTEODUCTIOX TO THE AMERICAN EDITIOif. 

conditions of society. Thus in new settlements remote from max- 
kets, the wool product is easily marketed, aud has a standard value. 
It brings cash, and thus sheep are raised primarily for their wool. 
The country fills up, and a i>opulation not .agricultural gathers in 
towns. This makes a home demand for mutton, and the sheep sought 
for \vill be those having heavy carcasses, while wool will have only a 
secondary value. With this demand for heavy sheep, comes that for 
the very best mutton, so that it wiU pay some sheep-breeders to cater 
to the demand of the market for such mutton as that yielded by the 
family of the ' ' downs. " 

A change of the tariff in a few years affects changes in the char- 
acter of the sheep raised and the wool grown. Demands of manu- 
factxirers tend at once to produce similar but less lasting effects. So 
the sheep accommodates itself to our civilization and the demands of 
society upon it ; its fleece varying from coarse hair, and a long, 
wavy, glossy but coarse wool, to wool of such extreme delicacy, that 
fabrics produced from it possess a softness that rivals even mole- 
skin. Youatt found that the diameter of good Spanish Merino wool 
averaged about '/\5oth of an inch, and we believe that wools measur- 
ing only '/loooth of an inch are not uncommon. 

Mutton has never been a favorite article of diet with Americans 
until within recent years — the wool-bearing breeds having given place 
to the more particularly mutton breeds of Great Britain. Now, how- 
ever, we are fast becoming, like the Mother Country, a mutton-eating 
people, and really good mutton commands remunerative, and often 
very high, prices in all our markets. Occasionally, at certain seasons, 
there are large importations of heavy carcasses. 

The position of the sheep in our agriculture is not what it should 
be. Thousands of square miles of what is now waste land, in the 
midst of the longest settled parts of the country, might be used as 
sheep pastures, with the assurance of a triple profit in the wool, which 
should pay all expenses, in the mutton which might be set down in 
many cases as clear profit, and in the benefit to the land, which, 
under proper management, is always improved by the grazing of 
sheep upon it. This gives rise to a saying that for certain land the best 
practice is to " manure with the sheep's foot." Besides, sheep are not 
fastidious feeders. They winter weU on wheat or oat-straw, with a 
modicum of grain or other feed. Their maladies with us are gener- 
ally easy to control, and when farms are adapted to their convenient 
handling, are managed with great economy of time and labor. There 
are, indeed, no more inviting, and few, if any, more remvmerative 
branches of husbandry. 



YOUATT ON SHEEP. 



CHAPTER I. 



Tlie Zoolot'ical Cnaracter of the Sheep. — Its various Names, accordina to Au^e — Tli« 
Marks by which its Age may be known — De-sTiption of the Teeth. — Natural Age. 

The sheep is classified by naturalists as belonging to the Order 
RuMiNANTiA ; the Tribe Caprid.e ; and the GexNus Ovis. Of tlie 
Ovis there are three varieties: the Ovrs Ammon or Arc:\i,i; the 
Ovis IMusmon; and the Ovis Aries, or Domestic Sheep. 1 he last 
variety only will form the subject of this work. 

There is considerable resemblance between the ovis or sh.eep, and 
the capra or goat, another genus of the tribe capridae. The distinc- 
tions between them are briefly these: the horns of the sheep have a 
spiral direction, while those of the goat have a direction upward and 
backward; the sheep, except in one wild variety, has no beard, the 
goat is bearded; the goat, in his highest state of improvement, when 
he is made to produce wool of a fineness unequalled by the sheep, 
as in the Cashmere breed, is mainly, and always, externally covered 
with hair, while the hair on the sheep may, by domestication, be 
reduced to a few kemfs (coarse hair), or got rid of altogether; and 
finally, the pelt or skin of the goat has thickness very far exceeding 
that of the sheep. 

NAMES OF THE SHEEP. 

Agriculturists have applied different names to the sheep, accord- 
ing to the age and sex. 

The male is called a rayn or tup. While with the mother he is 
denominated a Uip, or ram-lamb, a heeder, and sometimes a fur-lamh. 
From the time of his weaning, and until he is shorn, he has a vari- 
ety of names : he is called a liog, a Jioggct, a hoggcrcl, a lamh-Jiog, 
a tup-hog, or a teg ; and; if castrated, a nrt/icr-7iog. After shearing, 
when probably he is a year and a half old, he is called a sltearing, a 
ihcar-hog, a diamond or dinmont ram, or tvp ; and a shearing iccther, 
&:c., when castrated. After the second shearing he is a two-shear 
ram, or tup, or wether ; at the expiration of another year he is a 
three-shear ram, &cc. ; the name always taking its date from the time 
of sheanng. 

In many parts of the north of Englnnd and in Scotlaiid he is a 
ivn-lamh after he is salved, and until he is shorn, and then a tup-hog 
?.iid, after that, a tup, or if castrated, a dinmont ^r a wedd'^. 



b YOUATT OX SHEEP. 

The female is a ewe, ov gimmer-lamh, until weaned; and tlien a 
ghnmer-Jiog, oi' cwc-lwg, ox teg, or sheeder eicc. After being shorn 
Bhe is a shearing ewe or gimmcr, sometimes a thcave, or double- 
toothed etoe or teg ; and afterward a two-shear, a three-shear, or a 
four or six-tooth eice or theave. In some of the northern districts, 
ewes that are barren, or that have weaned their lambs, are called 
vild or ycld ewes. 

THE AGE OF THE SHEEP. 

The age of sheep is not reckoned from the time that they are 
dropped, but from the first shearing, although the first year may thus 
include fifteen or sixteen months, and sometimes more. 

When there is doubt about the age, recourse is had to the teeth, 
for there is more uncertainty about the horn in sheep than in cattle ; 
and ewes that have been early bred from, will alwavs, according to 
the rings on the horn, appear a year older than others that have been 
longer kept from the ram. 

THE TEETH. 

Sheep have no teeth in the upper jaw, but the bars or ridges of 
the palate thicken as they approach the forepart of the mouth 
ihei'e also the dense, fibrous, elastic matter, of which they are con- 
stituted, becomes condensed, and forms a cushion or bed that covers 
the converse extremity of the upper jaw, and occupies the place of 
the upper incisor or cutting teeth, and partially discharges theii 
functions. The herbage is firmly held between the front teeth in 
the lower jaw and this pad, and thus partly bitten and partly torn 
asunder. The rolling motion of the head is a suflBcient proof of this. 

The teeth of the sheep are the same in number as in the mouth 
of the ox. There are eight incisor or cutting-teeth in the forepart 
of the lower jaw, and six molaro in each jaw above and below, and 
on either side. The incisors are more admirably formed for grazing 
than in the ox. The oheep bites closer, and is destined to follow 
the ox, and gather nourishment where the ox would be unable to 
crop a single blade. The sheep, by his close bite, not only loosens 
the roots of the grass, and disposes them to spread, but by cutting 
off the short suckers and sproutings — a wise provision of natuie — 
causes the plant to throw out fresh, and more numerous, and stronger 
ones, and thus improves and increases the value of the crop. Noth- 
ing will moie expeditiously or more effectually make a thick, per- 
manent pasture than its being occasionally and closely eaten down 
by sheej). 

In order to enable the sheep to bite thus close, the upper lip is 
deeply divided, and free from hair about the centre of it. The part 
nf the tooth above the gum is not only, as in other animals, covered 
with enamel, to enable it to bear and to preserve a sharpened edge, but 
the enamel on the upper part rises from the bone of the tooth nearly a 
quarter of an inch, and presenting a convex surface outward, and a 
concave within, forms a little scoop or gouge of wonderful executioti. 

The mouth of the; lamb newly dropped is either without incisor 
teeth, or it has two. The teeth rapidly succeed to each other, and 



THE TEETH. 



before the animal is a month old he has the whole of the eight. They 
continue to grow with his growth until he is about fourteen or six- 
teen mouths old. In the accompanying cut, fig. 1 will give a fair 
Fig. 1. Fi^'. 2. Fi". 3. 




Fig. 4. Fig. 5. Fig. 6 

representation d£ the mouth of a sheep at this age. Then, with tlie 
same previous process of diminution as in cattle, or carried to a still 
greater degree, the two central teeth are shed, and attain their full 
growth when the sheep is two years old. Fig. 2 gives a delineation 
of the mouth at that age. 

In examining a flock of sheep, however, there will often be very 
considerable difference in the teeth of the hogs, or the one-shears; 
in some measure to be accounted for by a difference in the time of 
lambing, and likewise by the general health and vigor of the animal. 
There will also be a material difference in different flocks, attributa- 
ble to the good or bad keep which they have had. 

Those fed on good land, or otherwise well kept, will take 
the start of others that have been half-starved, and renew their 
teeth some months sooner that these. There are, however excep 
tions to this ; Mr. Price says that a Romney Marsh teg was exhib 
ited at the show fair at Ashford, weighing 210 pounds, and the 
largest ever shown there of that breed, and that had not one of his 
permanent broad teeth. 

There are also irregularities in the times of renewing the teeth, 
not to be accounted for by either of these circumstances ; in fact, not 
to be accounted for by any knoAvn circumstance relating to the 
breed or the keep of the sheep. The same author remarks, that he 
has known tups have four broad and permanent teeth, when, accord- 
ing to their age, they ought to have had but two. Mr. Culley, in his 
excellent work on "Live Stock," says: "A friend of mine and an 
eminent breeder, Mr. Charge, of Cleasby, a few years ago showed 
a shearing-tup at Richmond, in Yorkshire, for the premium given 
by the Agricultural Society there, which had six broad teeth ; in 
consequence of which the judges rejected his tup, although confes- 
sedly the best sheep, because they believed him to be more than a 
shearing : however, Mr. Charge afterward proved to their satisfnc 
tion tliat his tup was no more than a shearing." Mr. Price, on tli«f 



8 TOUATT ON SHEEP. 

Other hand, states that he " once saw a yearling vvetlier, which became 
quite fat with only one tooth, that had worked a cavity in the upper 
jaw, the corresponding central tooth having been accidentally lost." 

The want of improvement in sheep which is occasionally observed, 
and which can not be accounted for by any deficiency or change of 
food, may sometimes be justly attributed to the tenderness of the 
mouth when the permanent teeth are protruding thi'ough the gums. 

Between two and three years old, the next two incisors are shed ; 
and when the sheep is actually three years old, the four central teeth 
are fully grown (see fig. 3) : at four years old, he has six teeth fully 
grown (see fig. 4) : and at five years old all the teeth are perfectly 
developed (see fig. 6). This is one year before the horse or the ox 
can be said to be full-mouthed. The sheep is a much shorter-lived 
animal than the horse, and does not often attain the usual age of 
the ox. 

The careless examiner may sometimes be deceived with regard to 
the four-year-old mouth. He will see the teeth perfectly developed, 
no diminutive ones at the sides, and the mouth apparently full; and 
then, without giving himself the trouble of counting the teeth, he will 
conclude that the sheep is five years old. A process of displacement, 
as well as of diminution, has taken place here : the remaining out- 
side milk-teeth are not only shi-unk to less than a fourth part of their 
original size, but the four-year-old teeth have grown before them and 
perfectly conceal them, unless the mouth is completely opened. Fig- 
ure 5 represents this deceptive appearance. 

After the permanent teeth have all appeared and are fully grown, 
there is no criterion as to the age of the sheep. In most cases, the 
teeth remain sound for one or two years, and then, at uncertain in- 
tervals, either on account of the hard work in which they have been 
employed, or from the natural effect of age, they begin to loosen and 
fall out; or, by reason of their natural slenderness, they are broken 
off. When favorite ewes, that have been kept for breeding, begin, at 
six or seven years old, to lose condition, their mouths should be care- 
fully examined. If any of the teeth are loose, they should be ex- 
tracted, and a chance given to the animal to show how far, by brows- 
ing early and late, she may be able to make up for the diminished 
number of her incisors. It will not unfreqjiently happen that ewes 
with broken teeth, and some with all the incisors gone, will keep 
pace in condition with the best in the flock ; but they must be well 
taken care of in the \\ inter, and, indeed, nursed to an extent that 
would scarcely answer the farmer's purpose to adopt as a general 
rule, in order to prevent them from declining to such a degi'ee as 
would make it very difficult afterward to fatten them for the butcher. 
It may certainly be taken as a general rule that when sheep become 
bi-oken-mouthed, they begin to decline. 

It will probably appear, when the subjects of breeding and gra- 
zing are discussed, that it will be the most profitable course to fatten 
the ewes when they are five, or, at most, six years old, and supply 
their places with th.e most likely shearing-ewes. When a sheep gets 
much older than this, it begins to decline in its wool, and certainly 



STRUCTURE OF THE SKIM. 9 

loses mucn of its propensity to fatten ; while, in the usual system 
of sheep-husbandry, the principal profit consists in early and quick 
fattening. 

Causes of which the farmer is utterly ignorant, or over which he 
has no control, will sometimes hasten the loss of the teeth. One 
thing, however, is certain — that close feeding, causing additional ex- 
ercise of the teeth, does wear them down; and that the sheep of the 
farmers who stock unusually and unseasonably hard, lose their teeth 
much sooner than others do. 

NATURAL AGE. 
The natural age of the sheep is about ten years, to which ago 
they will breed and thrive well ; though there are instances of their 
breeding at the age of fifteen, and of living twenty years. 



CHAPTER II. 

Tlie Stracture of the Skin. — Anatomy of the Wool. — Hairy Coveriup of the Primitive 
Sheep. — The gradual Change froinHair to Wool. — The Yolk. — the Form of the Fibre. 
— The Properties of Wool. — Fineness. — Influence ol Temperature. — Pasture. — True- 
ness. — Soundness. — Softness. 

L\ order that the qualities and I'elative value of the different breeds 
of sheep may be duly estimated, it will be advantageous to devote a 
few pages to the consideration of the structui'e, varieties, and uses, 
of wool. 

THE STRUCTURE OF THE SKIN. 

The skin of the sheep, and of animals generally, is composed of 
three textures. Externally is the cuticle, or scarf-skin, which is thin, 
tough, devoid of feeling, and pierced by innumerable minute holer, 
through which pass the fibres of the wool and the insensible perspi 
ration. It seems to be of a scaly texture ; but this is not so evident 
in the sheep as in many other animals, on account of a peculiar sub- 
stance, the yolk, which is placed on it, to nourish and protect the 
roots of the wool. It is, however, plainly enough to be seen in the 
scab and other cutaneous eruptions to which the sheep is liable. 

Below this is the rete mucosum, a soft structure ; its fibres having 
scarcely more consistence than mucilage, and being with great diffi- 
culty separated from the skin beneath. This seems to be placed as 
a defence to the terminations of the blood-vessels and nerves of the 
skin, and these are, in a manner, enveloped and covered by it. The 
col >r of the skin, and probably that of the hair or wool also, is de- 
termined by the rete mucosum ; or, at least, the hair and wool are 
of the same color as this substance. 

Beneath is the cutis, or true skin, composed of innumerable minuto 
fibres crossing each other in every direction ; highly elastic in order 
to fit closely to the t arts beneath, and to yield to the various motions 



10 TOl'A^TT ON SHEEP. 

of the body ; and dense and firm in its structure, that it may resist 
external injury. Blood-vessels and nerves, countless in number, 
pierce it, and appear on its surface under the form o? pajjiUcp,, or mi- 
nute eminences, while, througli thousands of little orifices, the exha- 
lant absorbents pour out the superfluous or redundant fluid. The 
true skin is composed principally or almost entirely of gelatine ; so 
^hat, although it may be dissolved by long-continued boiling, it is in- 
soluble in water at the common temperature. This organization 
seems to have been given to it, not only for the sake of its preserva- 
tion while on the living animal, but that it may afterward become 
useful to man. 

The substance of the hide combines with the tanning principle, 
and is converted into leather. 

The skin of the sheep seldom undergoes the full process of tan 
ning, but it is prepared in a j^eculiar way, and used as a commonei 
sort of binding for books, or it is manufactured into parchment, and 
thus, on account of its durable nature, becomes most valuable as con- 
nected with the disposal and fiecurity of our property. Some of the 
foreign lambskins are much &:ought after, as a species of ornamental 
clothing, as well as on account of their comfort and warmth, and are 
prepared with the wool remaining on them. 

ANATOMY OF THE WOOL. 

On the skin of most animals is placed a covering of feathei-, fur, 
hair, or wool. They are all essentially the same in compo' ition, 
being made up of an animal substtmce resembling coagulateo albu- 
men, and sulphur, silica, carbonate and phosphate of lime, and oxydes 
of iron and manganese. 

Wool is not confined to the sheep. The under-hair of some goats 
is not only finer than the fleece of any sheep, but it occasionally has 
the crisped appearance of wool. It is, in fact, wool of different quali- 
ties in different breeds : in some rivalling or excelling that of the 
Bheep, but in others very coarse. 

A portion of wool is found also in many other animals, as in the 
deer, elk, the oxen of Tartary and Hudson's bay, the gnoo, the camel, 
many of the fur-clad animals, the sable, the polecat, and in several 
species of the dog. 

HAIRY COVERING OF THE PRIMITIVE SHEEP. 

Judging fi'om the mixture of wool and hair in the coat of most ani- 
mals, and the relative situation of these materials, it is not improba- 
ble that such was the character of the fleece of the primitive sheep, 
It has been asserted that tlie primitive sheep was entirely covei-ed 
with hair, but is doubtless incorrect. There are at the present day 
varieties of the sheep occupying extensive districts, that are clothed 
outwardly with hair of different degrees of fineness and sleekness; 
and underneath the external coat is a softer, shorter, and closer one, 
that answei-s to the description of fur, according to most travellers, 
but v/hich really possesses all the characters of wool. It is therefore 
highly improbable that the sheep, which has now become, by culti- 



CHANGE PROM HAIR TO WOOL YOLK. 11 

ration, par excdh?ire, the icnol-hcar'rng aivmnl, should, in any <;oun- 
try, at any time, hiive ever been entirely destitute of wool. Sheep 
of almost every variety have at times been in the gardens of the 
Zooloirical Society of London, but there has not been one on which 
a portion of crisped wool, although exceedingly small, has not been 
found at the bottom of the hair. 

In all the regions over which the patriarchs wandered, and extend- 
ng northward through the greater part of Europe and Asia, the 
Bueep is externally covered with hair, but underneath is a fine, short, 
downy wool, from which the hair is easily separated. This is the 
case with the sheep at the cape of Good Hope, and also in South 
America. 

In the "American Philosophical Transactions," vol. v., page 153, 
the Jamaica sheep is thus described : " The Jarnaica sheep forms a 
distinct variety, altogether different from any other I have ever seen. 
The hair is a substance sui generis, and is as different from the kemp 
and stichet hair of Europe as from the long tough hair of the Rus 
sians and other hairy breeds. The wool, too, is as different from that 
of other sheep-wool as the hair; it is finer than any other, not except- 
ing the Shetland breed, although I should suspect that it is scarcely 
BO soft." It was, however, once asserted of this sheep, that it was 
altogether devoid of wool ; and it has been still more lately and 
strangely maintained that British sheep, transported to Jamaica, 
v.^ould speedily lose their woolly coat, and become altogether hairy. 

THE GRADUAL CHANGE FROM HAIR TO WOOL. 

The change from hair to wool, though much influenced by tem- 
perature, has been chiefly effected by cultivation. Wherever these 
hairy sheep are now found, the management of that animal is in a 
most disgraceful state ; and among the cultivated sheep the remains 
of this ancient hairy covering exist, to any great extent, among those 
ulone that are comparatively neglected or abandoned. 

THE YOLK. 

. The filament of the wool has scarcely pushed itself through the 
Dore of the skin, when it has to penetrate through another and singu- 
lar substance, which, from its adhesiveness and color, is called the 
YOLK. It is found in greatest quantity about the breast and shoul- 
ders — the very parts that produce the best, and healthiest, and most 
abundant wool— and in proportion as it extends to any considerable 
degree over other parts, the wool is then improved. It differs in 
quantity in different breeds: it is very abundant on the Merinoes ; it 
is sufficiently plentiful on most of the southern breeds, either to as- 
sist in the production of the wool, or to defend the sheep from the 
inclemency of the weather; but in the northern districts, where the 
cold is more intense, and the yolk of wool is deficient, a substitute 
for it is souGjht by smearing the sheep with a mixture of tar and oil 
or butter. Where there is a deficiency of yolk, the fibre of the wool 
is dry, and harsh, and weak, and the whole fleece becomes thin and 
bairy; wliere the natural quantity of i»^ is found, the wool is soft, anJ 



IS YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

oily, and plentiful, and strong. Precisely such, in a less degree, it 
the effect of the salving in suppling, and strengthening, and increas- 
ing the quantity of the wool. 

It is not the inspissated perspiration of the animal ; it is not com- 
posed of matter that has heen accidently picked up and that has 
lodged in the wool ; but it is a peculiar secretion from the glands of 
the skin, destined to be one of the agents in the nourishment of th« 
wool, and, at the same time, by its adhesiveness, to mat the wo(d to 
gether, and form a secure defence from the wet and cold. 

The medium quantity of yolk on a Hereford, Shi-opshire, or Sus 
sex sheep, is about half the fleece ; and this is the customary allow 
ance to the wool-buyer, if the fleece has been sold without washing 

A celebrated French chymist, M. Vauquelin, has made various ex 
periments on the composition of the yolk of wool ; the result is as 
follows : It is composed — first, of a soapy matter with a basis of 
potash, which formed the greater part of it ; second, a small quan- 
tity of carbonate of potash ; third, a perceptible quantity of ace- 
tate of potash ; fourth, lime, whose state of combination he was un- 
acquainted with ; fifth, an atom of muriate of potash ; sixth, an animal 
oil, to which he attributed the peculiar odor of tlie yolk ; and, in 
conclusion, he was of opinion that all these materials were essential 
to the yolk, and not found in it by accident, for he analyzed the yolk 
in a great number of samples, as well Spanish as French, and found 
them in all. 

The yolk being a true soap, soluble in water, it is easy to account 
for the comparative ease with which the sheep that have the natural 
proportion of it are washed in a running stream. There is, howev- 
er, a small quantity of fatty matter in the fleece, which is not in com- 
bination with the alkali, and which, remaining attached to the wool, 
keeps it a little glutinous, notwithstanding the most careful washing. 

THE FORM OF THE FIBRE. 

The fibre of the wool having penetrated the skin and escaped from 
the yolk, is of a circular form, generally larger toward the extremity 
and also toward the root, and in some instances veiy considerably so. 

The filaments of white wool, when cleaned from grease, are semi 
transparent; their surface in some places is beautifully polished, in 
others curiously incrusted, and they reflect the rays of light in a very 
pleasing manner. When viewed by the aid of a powerful achromatic 
microscope, the central part of the fibre has a singularly glittering 
appearance. Very irregularly-placed minuter filaments are some- 
limes seen branching from the main trunk, like boughs from the 
principal stem. This exterior polish varies mucii in different wools, 
and in wools from the same breed of sheep at different times. When 
the animal is in good condition and the fleece healthy, the appear- 
ance of the fibre is really brilliant ; but when the state of the consti- 
tution is bad, the fibre has a dull appearance, and either a wan, pale 
light, or sometimes scarcely any, is reflected. 

Asa general rule, the filament is most transparent in the best and 
most useful wools, whether long or short. It increases with the ina 



PROPERTIES OF WOOL FINENESS. 13 

provemei/t( f die breed, and the fineness and healthiness of the fleece; 
yet it must be acknowledged that some wools have different degrees 
of transparency and opacity, which do not appear to affect their 
value and utility. It is, however, the difference of transparency 'n 
the same fleece, or in the same filament, that is chiefly to oe noticed 
as impairing the value of the wool. 

THE PROPERTIED OF WOOL. 

A consideration of the most important properties of wool, now 
taken in a very general way, and to be hereafter applied to the difl^ei'- 
ent breeds of sheep, can not be better introduced than in the words 
of Young, to whom the agriculturist, whatever department of hus- 
bandry may chiefly occupy his attention, is much indebted. He is 
speaking of the size of the fibre, or the fineness or coarseness of 
wool. " Fine and coarse," says he, " are but vague and general de- 
scriptions of wool ; all fine fleeces have some coai'se wool, and all 
coarse fleeces some fine. 1 shall endeavor, for the information of 
my readers, to distinguish the various qualities of wool in the order 
in which they are esteemed and preferred by the manufacturer. 
First, fineness with close ground, that is, thick-matted ground. Sec- 
ond, pareness. Third, straight-haired when broken by drawino-. 
Fourth, elasticity, rising after compression in the hand. Fifth, sta- 
ple not too long. Sixth, coloi*. Seventh, what coarse is in it to 
be very coarse. Eighth, tenacity. Ninth, not much pitch-mark : 
but this is no other disadvantage than the loss of weight in scouring. 
The bad or disagreeable pi'operties are — thin, grounded, toppy, 
curly-haired, and, if in a sorted state, little in it that is very fine ; a 
tender staple, no elasticity, many dead white hairs, very yolky. 
Those who buy wool for combing and other light goods that do not 
want milling, wish to find length of staple, fineness of hair, white- 
ness, tenacity, pureness, elasticity, and not too many pitch-marks." 
These supposed good and bad qualities will not be taken in the 
order here enumerated, for the propriety of some of them may admit 
of doubt ; few, however, will be entii'ely omitted. 

FINENESS. 

That property which first attracts attention, and which is of greater 
importance than any other, is the fineness of the pile — the quantity 
of fine wool which a fleece yields, and the degree of that fineness. 
Of the absolute fineness little can be said. It varies to a very con- 
siderable degree in different parts of the same fleece, and the diam- 
eter of the same fibre is often exceedingly different at the extremity 
and the centre. The micrometer has sometimes indicated that the 
diameter of the former is five times as much as that of the latter; 
ana, consequently, that a given length of pile taken from the ex- 
tremity would weigh twenty-five times as much as the same length 
taken from the centre and cleansed from all yolk and grease. 

That fibre may be considered as coarse whose diameter is more 
than the five-hundredth part of an inch ; in some of the most valua- 
ole samples of Saxony wool it has i.'jt exceeded the nine-hundrodtb 



14 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

part of ail Inch ; yet in some animals, but whose wool has not yet 
been used for manufacturing purposes, it is less than one twelve- 
hundredth part of an inch. 

THE INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE. 

The extremities of the wool, and frequently those portions which 
are near to the root, are larger than the intermediate parts. The 
extremity of the fibre has generally the greatest bulk of all. It ia 
the product of summer soon afcer shearing-time; when the secretion 
of the matter of the wool is increased, and when the pores of the 
skin are relaxed and open, and permit a larger fibre to protrude. 
The portion near the root is the growth of spring, when the weather 
is getting warm ; and the intermediate part is the offspring of win- 
ter, when under the influence of the cold the pores of the skin con- 
tract, and permit only a finer hair to escape. 

If, however, the animal is well fed, the diminution of the bulk of 
the fibre will not be followed by weakness or decay, but in propor- 
tion as the pile becomes fine, the value of the fleece will be in- 
creased ; but if cold and starvation should go hand in hand, the 
woolly fibre will not only diminish in bulk, but in health, and strength, 
and worth. 

The variations in the diameter of the wool in different parts of the 
fibre will also curiously correspond with the degree of heat at the 
time the respective portions were produced. The fibre of the wool, 
and the record of the meteorologist will singularly agree,. if the va- 
riations in temperature are sufficiently distant from each other for 
any appi-eciable part of the fibre to grow. 

It will follow from this, that the natural tendency to jDroduce wool 
of a certain fibre being the same, sheep in a hot climate will yield a 
comparatively coarse wool, and those in a cold climate will carry a 
finer, but at the same time a closer and a warmer fleece. In pi'o- 
poition to the coarseness of the fleece will generally be its openness, 
and its inability to resist either cold or wet; while the coat of softer, 
smaller, more pliable wool, will admit of no interstices between its 
fibres, and will bid defiance to frost and storms. 

The natural instinct of the sheep would seem to teach the wool 
grower the advantage of attending to the influence of temperature 
on him. He is evidently impatient of heat. In the open districts,, 
and where no shelter is near, he climbs to the highest parts of his 
walk, that if the rays of the sun must still fall on him he may never- 
theless be cooled by the breeze ; but if shelter is near, of whatever 
kind, every shaded spot is crowded with sheep. 

Lord Somerville says : " The wool of our Merino sheep after 
shear-time is hard and coarse to such a degree as to render it almost 
impossible to suppose that the same animal could bear wool so op- 
posite in quality, compared to that which had been clipped from it 
in the course of the same season. As the cold weather advances 
the fleeces recover their so^*'; quality." Enough will be said in the 
course of the work respecting the duty and the propriety of giving 
Jficse useful animals, when placed in exposed situations some shel 



PASTURE TRUEiN'ESS SOUNl NESS, 15 

ter ftjtn the driving storms of winter; and the alteration in the fiV>re 
of the wool shows that it would also be advisable to ])rovide the 
flock with a shade and defence against the fervid rays of a meridian 
sun in the summer months. 

PASTURE. 

Pasture has a far greater influence on the fineness of the fleece. 
The staple of the wool, like every other part of the sheep, must in- 
crease in length or in bulk when the animal has a superabundance 
of nutriment; and, on the other hand, the secretion which forms the 
wool must decrease like every other, when sufficient nourishment is 
not afforded. 

When little cold has been experienced in the winter, and vegeta- 
tion has been scarcely checked, the sheep yields an abundant crop 
of wool, but the fleece is perceptibly coarser as well as heavier. 
When the frost has been severe and the ground long covered with 
snow — if the flock has been fairly supplied with nutriment, although 
the fleece may have lost a little in weight, it will have acquired a 
superior degree of fineness, and a proportional increase of value. 
Should, however, the sheep have been neglected and starved during 
this prolongation of cold weather, the fleece as well as the caixase 
is thinner, and although it may have preserved its smallness of fila- 
ment, it has lost in weight, and strength, and usefulness. 

TRUENESS. 

Connected with fineness is trueness of staple — as equal a growth 
as possible over the animal — a freedom from the shaggy portions, 
nere and there, which are occasionally observed on poor and neglected 
sheep. These portions are always coarse and comparatively worth- 
'ess, and they indicate an irregular and unhealthy action of the secre- 
tion of wool, and which will probably weaken or render the fibre 
diseased in other parts. 

Comprised in trueness of fibre is another circumstance that has 
been already alluded to — a freedom from coarse hairs which project 
above the general level of the wool in various parts, or, if they are 
not externally seen, mingle with the wool and debase its character. 

SOUNDNESS. 

Soundness is intimately connected with "trueness;" it means, gen- 
erally, strength of the fibre, and also a freedom from those breaches or 
withered portions to which allusion has been made. The eye will 
readily detect the breaches ; but the hair generally may not possess 
a degree of strength proportionate to its bulk. This is ascertained 
by drawing a few hairs out of the staple, and grasping each of them 
singly by both ends, and pulling them until they break. 

The wool often becomes injured by felting while it is on tho 
sheep's back. This is principally seen in the heavy breeds, espe- 
cially those that are neglected and half starved. It generally begins 
in the winter season, when the coat has been completely saturated with 
water, and it increases until sheaiing-time, unless the cot separates 
fronr. the wool beneath and drops off 



16 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

Woo] is generally injured by keeping. It wili probably increase 
a little in weight for a few months, especially i.* kept in a damp 
place ; but after that, it will somewhat rapidiy become lighter, until 
a very considerable loss will often be sustained. This, however, is 
not the worst of the case ; for, except very great care is taken, the 
moth will get into the bundles and injure, and destroy the staple : 
and that which remains untouched by them, will become considera- 
bly harsher and less pliable. If to this, the loss of the interest of 
money is added, it will be seen, that he seldom acts wisely who long 
hoards his wool, when he can obtain what approaches to a fair re 
munerating price for it. 

SOFTNESS. 

Softness of the wool, is evidently connected with the presence 
and quality of the yolk. This substance is undoubtedly designed 
not only to nourish the hair but to give it richness and pliability. 
The growth of the yolk ought to be promoted, and agriculturists 
ought to pay more attention to the quantity and quality of yolk pos- 
sessed by the animlals selected, for the purpose of breeding. 

Bad management impairs the pliability of the wool, by arresting 
the secretion of the yolk. The softness of the wool, is also much 
influenced by the chymical elements of the soil. 

A chalky soil notoriously deteriorates the softness of the wool on 
the sheep that graze there. Minute particles of the chalk being ne 
cessarily brought into contact with the fleece, and mixing with it, 
have a corrosive effect on the fibre, and harden it and render it less 
pliable. Many well-known facts render this highly probable. The 
business of the fell-monomer furnishes a striking- elucidation of this : 
his first proceeding is to separate the wool from the pelt ; and in or- 
der to effect this he exposes it to the action of lime-water, and in a 
very short space of time the hair is shrivelled, killed, and easily 
scraped away. 

In the living animal a process of the same kind, may be more 
gradually going forward, aided also by another, little suspected, yet 
highly injurious. The particles of chalk come in contact with the 
yolk — there is a chymical aflSnity between the alkali and the oily 
matter of the yolk — they immediately unite, and a true soap is formed. 
The first storm washes away a portion of it, and the wool, deprived 
of its natural pabulum and unguent, loses somo of its vital proper- 
ties, and its pliability among the rest. The slight degree of harsh- 
ness which has been supposed to belong to the South-Down wools, 
may be accounted for in this way. 

Mr. Bakewell's testimony deserves recording here, " I was led 
to the application of it," says he, "by observing the well-krcwn ef- 
fect produced on human hair, when daily washed with soap and wa- 
ter, and comparing it with the same hair less frequently washed, and 
sometimes rubbed with an ointment ; by the former practice, it be- 
came hard and bristly, by the latter it was rendered soft and pliable. 
A little time after, an intelligent clothier in my neighborhood, who 
kept a small flock of fine-woolled sheep, inforiied me 1 e had adopted 



FELTING, 17 

the practice of rubbiiiof the sheep, with a mixture of butter and tar. 
He could speak decidedly to the improvement the wool had received 
by it, havin"" superintended the whole process of the manufacture. 
The cloth ])roduced was superior to what ungreased wool could have 
made, if efjually fine ; it was remarkably soft to the touch, and had 
\vhat he called ' a good bottom, a good top, and a good hand and 
feel' — i. e., the appearance of the threads was nearly lost in a liru) 
even texture, covered with a soft full pile." Mr. Bakevvell, adds, 
"a further investigation has given me the most ample and satisfac- 
tory proofs, that by the application of a well-chosen unguent, woo! 
may be defended from the action of the soil and elements, and im- 
proved more than can be effected by any other means, except an en- 
tire change of breed." These are strong assertions, but no less 
strono- than true, with regard to those breeds, and situations wheie 
salvine is indicated. 



CHAPTER III. 



Felling. — The .spirally curling' Form of Wool — The serrated Edge of Wool. — Long 
Wool.— Middle Wool.— Short Wool. 

FELTING. 

The felting property of wool is a tendency of the fibres to entan- 
gle themselves together, and to form a mass more or less difhcult to 
unravel. By moisture and pressure the fibres of the wool may be 
come matted ov felted together into a species of cloth. The manu 
facture of felt was the first mode in which wool was applied K 
clothing, and felt is now universally used for hats. The fulling o 
flannels and broadcloths is effected by the felting principle. By the 
joint influence of the moisture and the pressure, certain of the fibres 
are brought into more intimate contact with each other ; they cohere , 
not only the fibres, but, in a manner, the threads cohere, and the 
cloth is taken from the mill shortened in all its dimensions : it has 
become a kind of felt, for the threads have disappeared, and it can 
be cut in every direction with very little or no unravelling; it i.i 
altogether a thicker, warmer, softer fabric. 

Many an ingenious theory has been brought forward in ordei to 
account for the process of felting. To the natural philosophei noth- 
ing was more easy of explanation, tt was the attraction of cohe« 
siun ; it was that power by which the particles of all bodies, when 
brought within insensible distances, are held together; it was an 
illustration of that universal law by which the system rolls entire. 
Take two leaden bullets ; scrape a small portion from each ; brine 
the smooth surfaces, although but of little extent, together ; press 
them together with a kind of twist, and they cohere. Briiiij two 
plates of glass together perfectly level and clean, and they will ad- 
here with considerable force. So the fibres of the wool, in thesa 

2 



18 YOUVTT ON SHEEP. 

manipulations, weie supposed to be brought witnin the sphere af 
each other's attraction, and to have cohered. 

The felting property of wool is one of the most valuable qualities 
it possesses, and on tliis property are the finer kinds of wool espe- 
cially valued by the manufacturei for the finest broadcloths. This 
important characteristic will lead to a consideration of the various 
forms in the structure on which it depends. 

THE SriR ALLY-CURLING FORM OF WOOL. 

The most evident distinguishing quality between hair and wool is 
the comparative straightness of the former, and the crisped or spi- 
rally-curling form which the latter assumes. If a little lock of wool 
IS held up to the light, every fibre of it is twisted into numerous mi- 
nute corkscrew-like ringlets. This is seen especially in the fleece 
o( the short-woolled sheep; but, although less striking, it is obvious 
even in wool of the longest staple. The subjoined cut will suffi- 
iiciently illustrate this j^oint. 




'^^, 






The upper figure represents a lock of Saxon v/ool ; the lower one 
IS the delineation of a lock of Leicester wool, from a sheep of the 
improved breed. 

The spirally-curling form of wool used, but erroneously, to be 
considered as the chief distinction between the coverfng of the goat 
and the sheep ; but the under-coat of some of the former is finer 
than any sheep, and it is now acknowledged frequently to have the 
crisped and curled appearance of wool. In some breeds of cattle, 
particularly in one variety of the Devons, the hair assumes a curled 
and wavy appearance, and a few of the minute spiral ringlets have 
occasionally been seen. It is the same with many of the Higliland- 
ers, but there is no determination to take on the true crisped chaiac- 
ter and throughout its whole extent, and it is still nothing but hair. 
On some foreign breeds, however, as the yak of Tartary, and the ox 
of Hudson's bay, some fine and valuable wool is produced. 

There is an intimate connexion between the fineness of the wool 
and the number of the curves, at least in sheep yielding wool of 
nearly the same length ; so that whether the wool of different sheep 
is examined, or that from different parts of the same sheep, it is 
enough for the observer to take notice of the number of curves in a 
given space, in order to ascertain with sufficient accuracy the fine- 
ness of the fibre. M. Lafoun has published an account of the man- 
agement of the German Merino sheep at Hohenheim, in Wurtem 
burg, and Schleisheim, near Munich. He says that the whole flock 



THE SERRATED EDGE OP WOOL. 19 

[a inspected three limes in the year — before winter — when the selec- 
tion of lambs is made, in the spring, and at shearing-time. Each 
sheep is placed in its turn on a kind of table, and examined carefully 
as to the growth, the elasticity, the pliability, the brilliancy, and the 
fineness of the wool. The latter is ascertained by means of a 
micrometer. It being found that there was an evident connexion 
between the fineness of the fibre and the number of curves, this waa 
more accurately noted. The fineness of the first quality, the super- 
locta, or pick-lock, appears under the microscope to oossess a fil)re 
iif gJoth of an inch in diameter, with from 27 to 2 ^ curves to an 
inch. The number of curves diminish as the diamet n- of the fibre 
increases, so that in an inferior quality in which the fil -e or staple is 
5-J„th of an inch in diameter, the number of curves is rom 12 to 13 
in an inch of length. 

Sufficient attention has not been given by the breeder to this curled 
form of the wool. It is, however, that on which its most valuable 
uses depend. It is that which is essential to it in the manufactory 
of cloths. The object of the carder is to break the wool to pieces 
at the curves — the principle of the thread is the adhesion of the par- 
ticles together by their curves ; and the fineness of the thread, and 
consequent fineness of the cloth, will depend on the minuteness of 
these curves, or the number of them found in a given lentrth of fibre. 

The wavy line in the above cut, has a pretty appearance, even in 
the Leicester ; but the close spiral curls of the Saxon wool deserve 
particular attention. The person most uninformed on these subjects, 
will see at once why the Leicester wool is unadapted to clothing pur- 
poses. The particles into which it is broken by the card, could have 
(ittle or no coherence — the greater part would be dissipated in the 
operation — and the remaining portions could not be induced so to 
nook themselves together as to form a thread possessing the slight- 
est degree of strength. On the other hand, the close curls of the 
Saxon, explain the reason why, on one account at least, it is placed 
at the head of clothing wools. 

It will readily be ,spen that this curling form, has much to do with 
the felting property of wool. It matei-ially contributes to that dis 
position in the fibres which enables them to attach and entwine 
themselves together ; it multiplies the opportunities for this interla- 
cing, and it increases the diflSculty of unravelling the felt. 

THE SERRATED EDGE OP WOOL. 

The felting property of wool is the most important as well as the 
distinguishing one; but it varies essentially in different breeds, and 
tlie usefulness and the consequent value of the fleece, at least for 
clothing purposes, depend on the degi'ee to which it is possessed. 

The serrated edge of wool, which has been discovered by means 
of the microscope, is also, as well as the spiral curl, deemed an im- 
portant quality in the felting property of wool. Mr. Youatt eives 
an account of the first public view of the serrated edge, or saw- 
teeth-like appearance of the fibre of wool. A fibre was taken from 
a Merim fleece of three years' growth, and a microscope of 30C 



so 



YOUATT ON SHEEP. 



linear power was usee!. The fibre assumed a flattened riband-like 
fnrm. The edges were hooked or serrated — they resembled the 
teeth of a fine saw, and were somewhat irregular. It was ascer- 
tained that there were 2,400 serrations in the space of an inch, and 
all of which pi-ojected in the same direction, viz., from the root to 
tlie point. Then, before we quitted the examination of the fibre as 
a transparent object, we endeavored to ascertain its actual diameter, 
and proved it to be 7?,,)th of an inch. 

1. A fibre of long Merino, viewed as a 
transparent object by the microscope. 



Ditto, as an opaque one. 




The Ions: Merino Wool. 



We next endeavored to explore the cause of this serrated appear- 
ance, and the nature of the iri'egularities on the surface, which might 
possibly account for the production of these tooth-like projections ; 
we therefore took another fibre, and mounted it as an opaque ob- 
ject, and we were presented with a beautiful glittering column, with 
lines of division across it, in number, and distance seemingly corre- 
sponding with the serrations that we had observed in the other fibi'e 
tliat had been viewed as a transparent object. 

A fibre of Saxon wool was set up as a transparent object. This 
sheep is originally a Merino, but the fleece is much improved by 
careful management. Its felting property is superior to that of tho 
Merino, and for some purposes it is more highly valued. The fol- 
hiwinor cut exhibits the result : — 



• "v*^, ^?v*^ _ '?-y:c-«^--; I- A fibre of Saxon wool as a transparent ob- 




2. Ditto, as an opaque one. 



It IS evidently a finer wool than the Merino ; it is gloth part of an 
inch in diameter. The serrations are as distinct ; they are not quite 
80 pi-ominent, yet there is not much difference in this respect, and 
certainly not greater than the diffei-ence in the bulk of the fibre would 
produce. There is a little more irregularity in the distribution of 
the serrations; and after carefil counting, there is an average of sev- 
enteen in each of the four divisions of the fibre. This number mul- 
tiplied by four will give sixty-eight as the whole number in the field 
of view, and that multiplied by forty will yield a product of 2,720, the 
number of irregularities in the edge of the fibre in the space of an inch. 

It is next viewed as an opaque object, and presents nearly the 
same appearance as the long Merino. The cups answer in number 
to the serrations, their edges project, and there is also an indication 
of a serrated edge ; but as the fibre, and consequently the cup, is 
amalJe-, it is not so deep as in long Merino. 



THE SERKATED EDGE OF WOOL 



21 




The next cut gives the microscopical appearance tf some South- 
Dovvn wool of a very fair and good quality. This is an exceedingly 
useful wool ; but, on account of its inferior felting power, rarely 
used in the manufacture of fine cloths ; in fact, it has been super- 
seded by that which has been just described, and others of a simiiai 
quality. 

1. A fibre of South Down wool as a trana- 
r.;']i parent object. 

2. Ditto, as an opaque one. 



SouthDowii Woo 



The fibre is evidently larger ; it is the -^loth part of an inch. The 
serrations differ in character ; these are larger, but they are not so 
acute — they almost appear as if they had been rounded ; they have 
a rhomboidal, and not a hooked character, and they are evidently 
fewer in number in the same space. There are thirteen in each di- 
vision, making, according to the mode of multiplication already pur- 
sued, 2,080 serrations in an inch, or 640 less than the Saxon. 

It is made an opaque object : the cups answer in number to the 
serrations ; they are more regularly distributed — they are not so 
prominent; and they show, what is now seen for the first time — the 
fibre being larger— that the cup is not composed of one continuous 
substance, but of numerous leaves, connected together, and probably 
overlapping each other. The serrations which were observed in the 
edge of the cups in the long Merino and the Saxon, are here resol- 
vable into small leaves (three are visible) ; the vacancy, or angle 
between the tops of them, not being of any considerable depth. 

The next wool that was subjected to examination was the Leices- 
ter — the unrivalled British long wool, and as useful, as indispensable 
for some purposes, as the finer wools already described are for oth- 
ers ; and possessing (and therefore the better adapted for its own 
purposes) the felting property to a comparatively little extent. 



1. A fibre of Leicester wool, as a transpa- 
rent object. 



2. Ditto, as an opaque one. 




The Leicester Woo 



The fibre is considerably larger ; it is ^^gth of an inch. On ac- 
count of its bulk, the little wavy lines about it give more decided 
indications of irregular external structui'e. The serrations are su- 
fterficial — irregular, differently formed in different parts — a few 
like small spines, not projecting far from the surface, but run- 
ning along it ; other prominences are more rounded, and occasion 
ally they give the idea of lying one upon another, as if two rods 
Viad been spliced togefher, with the end of one projecting beyond tiie 



&i*, YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

Other. They were evidently fewer in numba"; each quaiter of thi 
field contained but eleven, amountinjr to only 1,860 in the space ot 
an inch, or 220 less than the South-Down. 

As an opaque object, the cups corresponded in number with the 
serrations, and the construction of the cup is more evident. It con- 
sists of from four to six leaves, rounded at the extremity, and with 
only a short point or spine protruding, and the leaves evidently lying 
closer to the body of the fibre. 

There can no longer be a doubt with regard to the general outline 
of the woolly fibre. It consists of a central stem or stalk, probably 
hollow, or at least porous, and possessing a semi-transparency not 
found in the fibre of hair. From this central stalk there springs at 
different distances, in different breeds of sheep, a circlet of leaf- 
shaped projections. 

LONG WOOL. 

The most valuable of the long-woolled fleeces are of British origin. 
A considerable quantity is produced in France and Belgium, but the 
manufacturers in those countries acknowledge the superiority of the 
British wool. Long wool is distinguished, as its name would import, 
by the length of its staple. The average is about eight inches. It 
has much improved of late years, both in England and in other coun- 
tries. Its staple has, without detriment to its manufacturing quali- 
ties, become shorter ; but it has also become finer, and truer, and 
sounder. The long-woolled sheep has been improved more than 
any other breed ; and, since the close of Mr. Bakewell's valuable 
life, who may justly be considered as the father of the Leicesters, the 
principal error which he committed has been repaired, and the long 
wool has progressively risen in value, at least for combing purposes. 
Some of the breeds have staples of double the length that has been 
mentioned as the average one. Pasture and bi'eeding are the prin- 
cipal agents ai'e. 

Probably, because the Leicester blood pi'evails in, or at least min- 
gles with every other long-woolled breed, there has been rapidly in- 
creasing, a great similarity in the appearance and quality of this 
fleece in every district. The short-woolled fleeces are, to a very 
considerable degree, unlike in fineness, elasticity, and in felting prop- 
erty ; the sheep themselves are still more unlike: but the long wools 
are losing their distinctive points — the Lincoln has not all of his for- 
mer gaunt carcass, and coarse and entangled wool ; the Romney 
Marsh has got rid of a little of the roughness of his form, and the 
length of his leg, while his wool, possibly a little thinner, has be- 
come truer and finer ; the Tees water has, in a manner, disappeared ; 
the Cotswold and the Bampton have become varieties of the Leices- 
ter : in fact, all the long-woolled sheep, both in appearance and in 
fleece, are becoming of one family; and rarely, except from culpable 
neglect in the breeder, the fleece has not been injuriously weakened, 
or too much shortened, for the most valuable purposes to which it is 
devoted. 

In addition to its length, this wool is characterized by its strength 



MIDDLE WOCL. 23 

its transparency, its comjiarative stoutness, and the little degree in 
which it possesses the felting quaHty. 

Since the extension of the process of combing to wools of a shorter 
staple, the application of this wool to manufacturing purposes has 
undergone considerable change. In some respects the range of its 
use has been limited ; but its demand has, on the whole, increased, 
and its value is more highly appreciated. There are certain and 
important branches of the woollen manufacture in which it can never 
be superseded, and connected with which it will be considered to be 
the staple produce of Great Britain : — 

" If any wool, peculiar to our isle, 
Is given by nature, 'tis the comber's lock ; 
Tbe soft, the snow-while, and the long- grown flake."'* 

This long wool is classed under two divisions, distinguished both 
by length and tlie fineness of the fibre. The first, the long-combing 
wool, is used for tiie manufacture of hard yarn, and the worsted 
goods for which that thi'ead is adapted, and requires the staple to be 
long, firm, and little disposed to felt. The short-combing wool has, 
as its iiAme implies, a shorter staple, and is finer and more felty 
The felt is also closer and softer, and is chiefly used for hosiery 
goods. 

MIDDLE "WOOL. 

The middle wool is almost a new article, but it is ra])idly increas- 
ing in quantity and value. It will never supersede, but it will only 
stand next in estimation to the native British long fleece. It is yield- 
ed by the half-bred sheep, a race that will become more numerous 
every year, being a cross of the Leicester ram with the South-Down, 
or the Norfolk, or some other short-woolled ewe ; retaining the fat- 
tening property and the early maturity of the Leicester, or of both ; 
and the wool derivincr lentrth and toufjhness of fibre from the one, and 
fineness and feltiness from the other. 

Norfi)lk and Suftblk are taking the lead in the cultivation of this 
valuable breed ; but the practice is establishing itself in every j^art 
of the kingdom, where the pasture and other circumstances will per- 
mit the introduction of such a breed. The average length of staple 
is about five inches. There is no description of the finer stuff"-goods 
in which this wool is not most extensively and advantageously em- 
ployed ; and the noils (the portions which ai'e broken off' by, and left 
in the comb, A^hether belonging to this description of wool or to the 
long wool) are used in the manufacture of several species of cloth of 
no inferior quality or value. 

Under the head of middle wools must now be placed those that, 
when there were but two divisions, were known by the name of short 
wools; and, if we were treating of British productions alone, would 
still retain the same distinctive appellation. They are the South- 
Down, Norfolk, Suffolk, Dorset, Ryland, and Cheviot wools; to- 
gether with the fleece of several other breeds, not so numerous, noi 
occupying so great an extent of country. From the change, how 
• Dyer'8 Fleece, book ii 



24 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

ever, wlilcli lias insensibly taken place in them all — the lengthening, 
and the inci'eased thickness of the fibre, and more especially from the 
gradual introduction of other wools possessing delicacy of fibre, and 
pliability, and felting qualities, beyond what these could ))oast of, 
and, at the same time, being cheaper in the market than the old 
British wools ever were or could be — these have been gradually 
losing ground in the manufacture of the finer cloths, and now cease 
to be used in the production of them. On the other hand, the change 
which has taken place in the construction of machinery has multi- 
])]icd the purposes to which they may be devoted, and very consid- 
erably enhanced their value. It may be a little mortifying to the 
grower of the British short wool, to find that neither the superior, 
nor even the middle classes of society, will condescend to wear the 
cloths produced from his material ; but human ingenuity has not only 
brought good out of evil, but has increased the advantages previously 
possessed, and has placed the interests of the grower and the manu- 
facturer of wool on a basis which no changes in fashion or commerce 
can ever more materially affect. 

A few years ago, the grower of the British short wools considered 
them as devoted to clothing purposes alone. He not only would 
have thought them disgraced, if the comb had been applied in the 
preparation of them for the loom ; but, if pressed on that point, he 
would have confessed that they would not bear the action of the 
comb. Now they rank among the combing-wools : they are pi'e- 
pared as much, and in some places more, by the comb, than by the 
card. On this account they meet with a readier sale ; and although, 
perhaps, they will never more obtain an extravagant price, yet, con- 
sidering the increased weight of each individual fleece, and also the 
increased weight and eailier maturity of the carcass, they will, in 
proportion to the value of other agricultural productions, and unin- 
fluenced again by the changing character of the times, yield a fair 
remunerating price. 

The qualities of these respective wools will be hereafter consid- 
ered. The South-Down sheep yield nearly seven tenths of the pure 
short wool grown in the United Kingdom — the Dorsets, Rylands, 
Noi-folks, &c., furnishing the remaining three tenths : but these pro- 
portions vary in different districts, and, as has been already inti-^ 
mated, the half-bred sheep is, in some parts of the country rapidly, 
and in all of them gradually, encroaching on the pure short-woolled 
one — beautiful and valuable as the latter is. 

The average staple of the British short-woolled, or rather, now, of 
this description, of middle-wooUed sheep, is three and a half inches. 

Mr. Goodman, of Leeds, whose kindness the author particularly 
acknowledges, says that " these wools are now employed in flannels, 
army and navy cloths, fiiezed coatings, Petershams, bear-skin, and 
other coatings, heavy cloths for calico-printers and paper-manufac- 
turers, woollen cords, coarse woollens, blankets, East-India army 
cloths, and other woollen articles, many of them adapted to the trade 
of the United Kingdom, and largely exported to North and South 
America, the East and West Indies. Germany, and other places 



SHORT WOOL THE NEW .LEICESTER SHEEP. 20 

btsides, for die same jiurposes, oeing partially used in cassinets, 
baizes, bookings, long ells, carpets, druggets, »fec." Let the most 
enthusiastic admirer of the old short wools read this list, and say 
whether he has any reason to regret or to be ashamed of the change 
that has taken place. 

SHORT WOOL. 

From this division every wool of British production, save the 
Anjrlo-merino. may be considered as now excluded. 

These wools are employed unmixed in the manufacture of the 
finer cloths, and combined with a small proportion of British wool 
in others of some inferior value. The average length of staple is 
about two and a half inches. 

Even these wools may now be submitted to the action of the comb. 
There may be fibres only one inch in length ; but if there are others 
from two and a half to three inches, so that the average of the staple 
shall be two inches, then a thread sufficiently tenacious may, from 
the improved state of machinery, be spun, and many delicate and 
beautiful fabrics, unknown a few years ago, readily woven. 



CHAPTER IV. 



The Leicester Sheep. — The best Long-Woolled Breed. — Improved by Mr. Bakewell— 
Mode of Management. 

The New Leicester, is the most valuable of long-woolled sheep. 
As a lowland sheep, and destined to live on good pasture, the New 
Leicester is without a rival — in fact he has improved, if he has not 
given the principal value to all the other long-woolled sheep. 

The head should be hornless ; the eyes prominent, but with a 
quiet expression ; the ears thin, long, and directed backward. The 
neck full and broad at its base, and gradually tapering to the head ; 
the breast broad and full ; the shoulders broad and round : the arm 
fleshy through its whole extent, and even down to the knee ; the 
bones of the leg small, standing wide apart ; no looseness of skin 
about them, and comparatively bare of wool. The quarters long and 
full ; the thighs also wide and full. The legs of a moderate length ; 
the pelt moderately thin, but soft and elastic, and covered with a 
good quantity of white wool, not so long as in some breeds, but con- 
siderably finer. 

This account combines the main excellences of both Bakewell'3 
own breed, and Culley's variety or improvement of it. It is precisely 
the form for a sheep provided with plenty of good food, and without 
any great distance to travel, or exertion to make in gathering it. 

The principal recommendations of this breed, are its beauty and 
fulness of form, comprising in the same ajjparent dimensions, greater 
weiglt tha"i any other sheep ; an early maturity, and a propensity to 



26 



VOUATT >L.N SHEEP. 



fatten, equalled l)y no other breed ; a diminution in the proponior. 
of offal, and the return of most money for the quantity of food con« 
sumed. 




New Leicester Sheep. 

It was about the middle of the last century, that Mr. Bakeweli, 
of Dishley in Leicestershire first applied himself to the improve- 
ment of the sheep, in that county. Up to this time, very little at- 
tention had been given to the breeding of sheep. 

Two objects alone appear to have engrossed the attention of the 
breeders ; first, to breed animals of the lai'gest possible size ; and, 
secondly, such as should produce the heaviest fleeces. Aptitude to 
fatten, and symmetry of shape, that is, such shape, as should increase 
as much as possible the most valuable parts of the animal, and di- 
minish in the same proportion the offal, were entirely disregarded. 

Mr. Bakeweli perceived that smaller animals increased in weight 
more rapidly than those very large ones ; and that they consumed 
so much less food, that the same quantity of herbage applied to feed- 
ing a larger number of small sheep, would produce more meat than 
when applied to feeding the smaller number of large sheep which 
alone it would support. He also perceived that sheep carrying a 
heavy fleece of wool possessed less propensity to fatten, tiian those 
which carried one of a more moderate weight. 

Acting upon these observations, he selected from the different 
flocks in his neighborhood, without regard to size, the sheep which 
appeared to him to have the greatest propensity to fatten, and whost 
shape possessed the peculiarities which be considered would produce, 
the largest proportion of valuable meat, and the smallest quantity of 
bone and offal. 

In doing this, it is probable that he was led to prefer the smaller 



THE NEW LEICESTER SHEEP. 27 

aheep, still more than he had been by the considerations above stated, 
because it is found, that perfection of shape move fjequently accom- 
panies a moderate-sized animal than a very large one. 

He also was of opinion that the first object to be attended to in 
breeding sheep, was the value of the carcass, and that the fleece 
ougiit always to be a secondary consideration. The reason for this 
is obvious : the addition of two or three pDunds of wool to the 
weight of a sheep's fleece, is a difference of great amount ; but if to 
procuie this increase, a sacrifice is made of the propensity to fatten, 
the farmer may lose by it ten or twelve pounds of mutton. 

The sort of sheep, thereiin-e, which Mr. Bakewell selected, were 
those possessed of the most perfect symmetry, with the greatest ap- 
titude to fatten, and rather smaller in size than the sheep then gen- 
eially bred. Having formed his stock from sheep so selected, he 
carefully attended to the peculiarities of the individuals from which 
he bred, and, it appears, did not object to breeding from near rela- 
tions, when, by so doing, he put together animals likely to produce 
a progeny possessing the charactei"istics that he wished to obtain. 

Mr. Bakewell has been supposed, by some persons, to have formed 
the New J^eicester variety, by crossing different sorts of sheep ; but 
there does not appear to be any reason for believing this : and the 
circumstance of the New Leicesters varying in their appearance and 
qualities so much as they do from the other varieties of long-woolled 
sheep, can by no means be considered as proving that such was the 
system which he adopted. Eveiy one who has attended to the breed 
ing of domestic animals must have experienced that, by careful se- 
lection of those from which he breeds, and with a clear and definet; 
conception of the object he intends to effect, he may procure a pro- 
geny in which that object will be accomplished. 

At the present time, in the New Leicester breed of sheep, a practi- 
cal proof of this may be seen in the flocks of Mr. Buckley and Mr. 
Burgess. Both of these flocks have been purely bred from the ori 
ginal stock of Mr. Bakewell, for upward of fifty years. The^e \e 
not a suspicion existing in the mind of any one at all acquaii Loil with 
the subject, that the owner of either of them has deviated in any ovx- 
instance from the pure blood of Mr. Bakewell's flock; and y-3t \he 
difference between the sheep possessed by these two gentlenion is so 
gi'eat, that they have the appearance of being quite different vratio 
lies. This difference, however, has only been produced by ihc\'iy 
respective owners having pursued with perseverance a different pv»- 
tem ; one of them having aimed at attaining merits of one dfSCTip 
tion, and the other having aimed at attaining merits of a di Taren? 
nature. 

This being the case, and there not existing any well-autlient caie(J 
facts, oi\ indeed, any facts resting upon any authority whatever to 
prove that the New Leicester breed of sheep was produced by Mi. 
Bakewell by crossing different sorts, it is highly probable that ii was 
improved to its present state of perfection simply by selection 'lorn 
the then-existing bi'eed of long-woolled sheep. 

Huving thus established his fl^ck, Mr. Bakewell adopted aprao- 



28 YOUATT ON SHEEP 

tice, which has since been constantly followed Ly the most eminent 
breeders of sheep ; this was to let rams for the season, instead of 
sellino- them to those who wished for their use. This is an improve- 
ment of great value, beneficial alike to the proprietor of the ram, 
and to the person who hires him. It enables the ram-nreeder to 
keep a much larger number of rams in his possession, and, conse- 
quently, greatly increases his power of selecting those most suitable 
to his flock, o-r which may be required to correct any faults in shapo 
or quality that may occur in it; it also enables him, by cautiously 
using a ram for one season, or by observing the produce of a ram 
let to some other breeder, to ascertain, by actual observation of the 
produce, the probable qualities of the lambs which such ram will 
get, and thus saves him from the danger of making mistakes which 
would deteriorate the value of his stock. This system is equally 
beneficial to the farmers who hire the rams : it gives them the op- 
portunity of varying the rams from which they breed much more 
than they otherwise could do; and it also gives them the power of 
selecting from sheep of the best quality, and from those best calcu- 
lated to efl^ect the greatest improvement in their flocks. 

The effect of this system has been to introduce a sort of division 
of labor into the breeding of sheep : some flock-masters applying 
themselves almost exclusively to the rearing of rams for the purpose 
of letting them, and finding it, therefore, their interest to apply a 
more minute attention to improving the valuable qualities of their 
sheep than the time or other opportunities of an ordinary farmej 
could permit him to do; while the ordinary farmer gains the advan 
tage of this attention paid by others, and is tolerably sure of always 
procuring a ram which, without such minute attention on his part, 
will keep his flock in a profitable and improving state. It is said 
tliat when Mr. Bakevvell first determined to adopt this practice, the 
idea was so novel that he had great difficulty in inducing the farmers 
to act upon it, and that the first sheep he let was let for sixteen shil- 
lings. Since then a sheep has been let for the season at a thousand 
guineas, and many others for prices approaching that sum. 

Such is the origin of the New Leicester breed of sheep, which 
have, vi'ithin little more than half a century, spread themselves from 
their native county over every part of the United Kingdom, and are 
now exported in great numbers to the continents of Europe and 
America. Such, indeed, have proved to be their merits, that at the 
present day there are very few flocks of long-woolled sheep existing 
in Eno-land, Scotland, or Ireland, which are not in some degree de- 
scended from the flock of Mr. Bakcwell. A pure Lincoln or Tees- 
water flock is very rarely to be found ; and although some flocks 
of the pure Cotswold breed remain, in the gieatest number of 
instances it is probable that they have been crossed with the New 
Leicesters. 

No other sort of sheep possesses so great a propensity to fatten — ■ 
no other sort of sheep is fit for the butcher at so early an age — and 
although they are not calculated for the poorest soils, where the 
herbage is so ncanty that the sheep must walk over a great deal of 



THE NEW LEICESTER SHEEP. 29 

grouni for the purpose of procuring its food, no jther sort of sheep, 
in soils of a moderate or superior quality, is so profitable to the 
breeder. 

They vary very much in size, weighing, at a year and a half old, 
with ordinary keep, from 24 to 35 lbs. per quarter. In this respect, 
therefore, they are inferior to the Lincohi, the Cotswold, and the 
Tees water sheep. By crossing them with either of these sorts, the 
size of the sheep may be considerably inci'eased ; and it is said that 
thia may be done without diminishing perceptibly either their incli- 
nation to become fat, or the early maturity for which they have 
always been remarkable. It would, however, be very unfortunate 
if the temptation which this increase of bulk holds out to the breed- 
ers, was to have a tendency to diminish the stocks of pure-bred New 
Leicesters at present existing, because there can be little doubt that 
it will be always essential to the preservation of the peculiar merits 
of tl'.is sort of sheep that the breeders may be able to have recourse 
to pure-bred rams. 

'J'he preference which Mr. Bakewell was inclined to give to a 
smaller race of sheep than the ordinary long-woolled sheep were at 
the time he commenced his improvements, and the decision he came 
to of attending more to the carcass than the fleece of the sheep from 
which he bred, undoubtedly led some of his immediate followers into 
considerable mistakes. They seem even to have imagined that want 
of size was a merit of itself, and instead of looking to the- fleece of 
the sheep as a secondai-y consideration only, neglected it entirely, or 
even preferred sheep with bad fleeces to those with good ones. At 
present, however, these mistakes are corrected, and the principal 
breeders of the New Leicester sheep give their due and sufficient 
weight to all the qualities which are likely to produce a profitable 
animal. 

We have said above, that the principles on which Mr. Bakewell 
acted have been of essential benefit to all the different breeds of our 
domestic animals. The great improvement which he made in the 
breed of sheep proved how important it is to a breeder of animals 
to attend to the peculiarities which distinguish the parents, and so to 
put the males and females together as to remedy any defects which 
may exist in either. Previous to the time of Mr. Bakewell, the im- 
portance of this care had not been understood ; but the attention of 
breeders having been then called to it, the reasonableness of the 
principle was apparent, and it has since been attended to, more or 
less, by all those who have been anxious to improve their stock. 

The result of the diffusion of the New Leicester sheep through 
every part of the United Kingdom is, that both friends and foes have 
been enabled to put fairly to the test their supposed excellences 
and dtifects ; and there seems now to be a common agreement of 
opinion, if not precisely between these two opposite classes, yet be- 
tween all impartial judges. The New Leicester, on good keep, will 
yield a greater quantity of meat, for the same quantity of food, than 
any other breed of sheep can d^. This is their fundamental charac- 
ter and excellence. On moderate keep they will do as well as moat 



30 YOUATT ON SHEEP 

breeds : but they can not travel far for theii food, nor can they bear, 
so well as many others, occasional scantiness or deprivation of nour- 
ishment. These properties plainly mark out for them the situation in 
which they should be placed, and the purposes for which they should 
be bred. 

The kind of meat which they yield is of a peculiar character. 
When the sheep are not over-fattened, it is tender and juicy, but, in 
the opinion of many persons, somewhat insipid. When they are 
raised to their highest state of condition, the muscles seem to be 
partially absorbed; at least much fatty matter is introduced between 
their fibres. The line of distinction between the fat and the lean 
is in a manner lost, and, with the exception of a few joints, and a 
small part of them, the carcass has the appearance and the taste of 
a mass of luscious fat. There is the same difference between the 
over-fat Leicester and South-Down, which there is between the Short- 
horn and the Kyloe. when forced into an unnatural state of condition. 
This, however, is no solid objection to the bleed. It marks the 
point, easily attained, to which the fattening process should be cai"- 
ried, and where it should stop. It marks the character of the ani- 
mal, and the profit which may be d-erived from it, and it is the fault 
of the grazier if he conveits an excellence into a nuisance. 

It is to be doubted whether this disposition to over-fatness remains 
to as great an extent as it did in the early existence of the New 
Leicesters. Whether it arises from the fashionable but injurious 
system of many of the cultivators of these sheep, or from some 
gradual impairment of the constitution of the breed, there can be no 
doubt that the size of the New Leicesters has materially diminished. 
Occupying the same farm, and the cultivation of that farm being the 
same, the management unchanged, and the sale taking place at the same 
time of the year, there is an evident diminution of both live and dead 
weight. This, perhaps, may be chiefly owing to the continued appli- 
cation of that principle which did credit to the judgment of Bakewell 
when he was surrounded by lai'ge and coarse animals only, namely, to 
look to symmetry alone, and to trust to chance or to nature for the 
size and weight; but which must have an injurious tendency when 
the characteristic of the breed is neatness and beauty of form. The 
heaviest pure New Leicester sheep, of which there is any authentic 
account, belonged to Mr. Morgan, of Loughton : its live weight was 
3681bs., and tiie weight of the carcass 24Slbs. It was killed in 
April, and had been with the ewes until Novemlier the 1st. The 
heaviest of Mr. Painter of Burghley's pen of 32 months' old Lei- 
cester wethers, exhibited at the Smithfield cattle-show, in 1835, 
weighed but IGSlbs. ; the two others were 15/31bs. and 1431bs. The 
three South-Downs, of the same age, exhibited by Mr. Stephen 
Grantham, of Stoneham, weighed IGSlbs., IGolbs., and 1631bs. 



sa 



The Leicester sheep were never favorites with the butcher, becau 
they had little loose inside fat. It has been well said tjiat " tallow is 
a kind of boon which, if not forthcoming, produces a disappointment 
that tne butcher can not brook." It o'lght, nevertheless, to have been 
lecoljoctcd that the smallness of the head, and the thinness of the 



THE NEW LEICESTER SHEKP. SI 

pelt, would in some measure counterbalance the Ices of tallow : that 
there is that about the Leicester sheep which would Fully make 
amends to the butcher for the diminution of offal, namely, the prop- 
erty or weighing considerably more than the appearance of the ani- 
mal would indicate; and tliat this very diminution of the offal, what- 
ever the butcher may think of it, is advantageous to the graziei, for 
it shows a disposition to form fat outwardly, and is uniformly accom- 
panied by a tendency to quickness of improvement. 

It must also be conceded that the New Leicester sheep has a smaller 
quantity of bone in proportion to its weight tiian is to be found in 
any other breed, a circumstance highly advantageous to the consu- 
mer, although, in more ways than one, it may not be so profitable to 
the butcher. 

There is another good quality in the New Leicesters of essential 
importance, namely, their early maturity. They are sooner prepared 
for the butcher than any other desci"iption of sheep, and tiie pasture 
left ready fi)r other purposes. This was undeniably the case when 
they were first introduced. It was a point which, for many years 
afterward, their most prejudiced enemies could not deny. Mr. Price, 
in his " Treatise on Sheep," gives a satisfactory illustration of this: 
" In the spring of 1806, I called upon the earl of Thanet, in Kent, 
in order to view his breed of sheep : his lordship is for giving every 
breed a candid trial. He then had the New Leicesters, the South- 
Down, and the Romney Mai-sh breeds, together. He informed me 
that the New Leicester breed suited his purpose far better than any 
of the others, for they were ripe for the slaughter-house in April ; 
whereas, the South-Down and the Kents would not be so until the 
latter end of the summer. The advantage which he received was 
that of making two returns on his pastures." 

Great improvement has been effected in the system of sheep-hus- 
bandry since that time, and other breeds of sheep have materially 
advanced. Between some of them and the Leicesters it would oc- 
ca.'^ionally be a neck-and-neck race, or the old favorites might now 
and then be left behind ; but, as a general rule, and all circumstances 
being equal, the New Leicester sheep will get the start of their 
competitors ; and they will not be left behind, although dearer and 
more stimulating food than used to be allowed is given to their rivals. 

The New Leicesters, however, are not without their faults. They 
are not, even at the present day, so prolific as most other breeds. 
This was too much overlooked in the time of Bakeweli and his im- 
mediate followers. Their object was to produce a lamb that could 
be forced on so as to be ready, at the earliest possible period, for 
tlie purposes f>f breeding dv of slaughter, and therefore the produc- 
tion of twins was not only unsought after, but was regarded as an 
evil. It was considered that, during the period of gestation, few 
ewes would be able to bring to their full foetal growth two such lambs 
as the Leicestershire breeders desired to have, Thefact also which, 
if they had seriously thought of the matter, must have appeared to 
be unavoidable, too soon began to be evident, viz., that when the en- 
ergies of the system were systematically directed to one point — the 



S3 ' rOUATT ON SHEEP. 

accumulation of flesn and fat as early and to as great an extent as 
possible — there mvist be a deficiency in some other point ; and the 
Leicester tups were not such sui'e lamb-getters, and the ewes were 
not so well disposed for impregnation, and the secretion of milk was 
not so abundant as in other breeds. When, however, the contest for 
the highest character as a tup-breeder, and the highest price for thp 
letting of the tups, was somewhat passed over, and the Leicesters 
were submitted to the usual routine of sheep-husbandry, they became 
better breeders and better nurses. 

It was likewise, and not without reason, objected to them that theii 
lambs were tender and weakly, and unable to bear the occasional in- 
clemency of the weather at the lambing season. This also was a ne- 
cessary consequence of that delicacy of form, and delicacy of consti 
tution too, which were so sedulously cultivated in the Leicestei 
fheep. The circumstance of their indisposition to accumulate fat in- 
rnally was, however, much in their favor here. Had they " died 
as well," or, in plainer language, contained as much fat within aa 
their external appearance bespoke, there would have been no room 
for the growth of the little one, and its puny form could not have 
endured the slightest hardslwp. 

The last objection to the New Leicester sheep was the neglect 
and deficiency of the fleece; but this has been already hinted at. It 
was a great objection in the early history of the improved breed. 
The weight and quality of the fleece were not merely, as they should 
be, somewhat secondary considerations, but they were comparatively 
disregarded. There is little cause, however, for complaint at the 
present period. The wool has considerably increased in length, and 
has improved botli in fineness and strength of fibre ; it averages from 
six to seven pounds the fleece, and the fibre varies from five to more 
than twelve inches in length. It is mostly used in the manufacture 
of serges and carpets. 

The principal value of the New Leicester breed consists in the im- 
provement which it has eftected in almost every variety of sheep that 
it has crossed. A rapid glance at the districts that have passed in 
review will afford satisfactory proof of this, as it regards the short- 
woolled breed. The Leicesters had nothing to do with the original 
formation of any of them, for each grew out of the situation in which 
it was placed : but they have formed useful and improved varieties 
with most of them, and in various instances a cross with them has 
superseded the native breed. 

They had nothing to do with the formation of the South-Downs, 
and the early crosses with them were not successful. The activity 
and the hardihood of the Sussex sheep were to a certain degree im- 
paired, and the wool was lengthened, weakened, and could no longer 
be used in the manufacture of cloth : but, when a complete revolution 
nad taken place in the character and uses of the British short wools 
— when a finer and a better wool than the South-Downs ever pro- 
duced was brought into the market, and rapidly superseded that of 
British growth — when, in poiut of fact, the South-Down wool was 
driven from all its old markets, and had to seek new and perfectly 



MAMAGEMENT OF THE LEICESTER SHEEP. 33 

different ones — many farmers, reluctantly and hesitatingly at first, 
began In cross the South-Down cvve with the Leicester ram. The 
consequence of this was, that although the South-Downs lost some 
hardihood, as it regarded both keep and weather, they obtained 3 
carcass not materially diminished in value in the estimation of either 
the consumer or the butcher — coming somewhat earlier to the mai'- 
ket, and yielding a fleece longer in its staple, finer in its filire, witb 
much of its former strength, and feltiness too, and nearly doubled in 
weight — a true combing wool, valued by the manufacturer, having 
ready sale, and producing a fair remunerating price. 

Crosses between the New Leicester and the Dorset sheep have 
not been attempted on any extensive scale ; but now that the middle 
wool finds so easy and profitable a market, the experiment will doubt- 
less be resumed. 

Still farther in the west the Leicesters have been eminently useful. 
Both the Dartmoor and the Exmoor sheep owe mucl to them, with 
respect to earlier maturity, increased size so far ai t is desirable, 
and a far more valuable fleece. 

Sir John Sinclair has recorded his opinion on this point : " The 
Dishley breed is perhaps the best ever reared for a rich arable dis- 
trict ; but the least tincture of this blood is destructive to the mount- 
ain sheep, as it makes them incapaoie of standing the least scarcity 
of food." Experience, however, has proved that both the high- 
land and the upland sheep may be much improved by admixture 
with lowland blood ; they may o1)tain the fiiculty of turning every 
particle of food to nutriment, and the early maturity, which constitute 
the value of the Leicester breed. 

The breed itself can not be changed. " I occupied a farm," says 
a Lammermuir sheep-master, "that had been rented by our family 
for nearly half a century. On entering it, the Cheviot stock was the 
object of our choice, and so long as we continued in possession of 
this breed everything proceeded with considerable success ; but the 
Dishley sheep came into fashion, and we, influenced by the general 
mania, cleaicxl our farm of the Cheviots and procured the favorite 
stock. Our coarse, lean pastures, however, were unequal to the task 
of supporting such heavy-bodied sheep ; and they gradually dwindled 
away into less and less bulk : each generation was inferior to the 
preceding one ; and when the spring was severe, seldom more tiian 
two thirds of the lambs could survive the ravages of the storm." 
This was a sufficient illustration of the folly of placing certain breeds 
of sheep on situations which nature had not formed them to occujiy ; 
but it is another question whether there are not certain qualities be- 
longing to sheep occupying a very different locality that may be ad- 
fantageously imparted to other breeds. 

MANAGEMENT OF THE LEICESTER SHKEP 

The Leicester ewes, although they do not bring so many lambs, 
nor rear them so certainly, nor make them so fat as sheep of a more 
hardy description do, yet have very much improved in these respects, 
and act rally rear frum a hundred and ten to a hundred and twenty 

it 



34 ' YOUATT ON SHEEP 

iambs from every one Ininclred ewes ; ihe ewes that are barren being 
mostly fit for the butcher, and those that hise their lam])s getting fat 
in much less time than any other breed. On account of this prompti- 
tude to fatten, the Leicesters are brought into the market, and aver- 
age as much per quarter at one year old, as those of most other breeds 
do at two and three ; the farmer also having the power to stock 
harder and closer with them than with any others of equal weight, 
as they are always in good condition, even when suckling lan:bs, or 
hard kept. The ewes will not fatten their lambs for the hutcher ; 
but this is no eventual loss to the farmer, as lambs of this breed are 
much better kept on for mutton and wool, and it would be a public 
detriment to slaughter them prematurely. 

Some farmers, however, finding a great and steady demand for 
lamb as well as for mutton, have been induced to keep an annual 
stock of sheep, consisting only of ewes and wethers bought in at 
Michaelmas, principally of the Cheviot and Anglesey breeds. The 
ewes are immediately put to a Leicestershire ram. The lambs are 
fattened and sold in June or July, and the ewes are afterward fed on 
clover-grass, and sold in October or November. The Cheviots are 
•good sucklers, and generally make fat lambs, averaging about 15lbs. 
the quarter, while from 3 to 4 lbs. of wool are cut from each. 

The wethers are of the same kind, and are bought about May or 
Jime, from one to four years old. They are fed on clover or grass, 
and mostly sold in the autumn, averaging about 161bs. the quarter, 
and yielding from 3^ to 4^ lbs. of wool. Sometimes they are kept ' 
on until the following spring, and fed upon turnips ; but being of a 
restless disposition, they seldom increase more in weight than from 
2 to 3 lbs. per quarter from October to March. 

The Leicester ewes are put to the ram at the beginning or middle 
of October, and taken from him again about the second week in No- 
vember. One ram will serve from 60 to 70 ewes : but if he is kept 
in a close, and a teaser employed, he will serve from SO to 100. He 
is raddled at the time that he is put to the ewes, and those which are 
served are taken from him once a week and numbered. They are 
then put to another ram that has been blackened, in oi'der to distin- 
guish the ewes that are served again. These are likewise drawn 
every week and marked with a different number. This precaution 
will save much trouble when they are drawn for lambing, which 
ought always to be done. 

The ewes will approach their time of yeaning about the bcgin- 
iiino" or middle of March ; and this being often an inclement season, 
and the Leicesters requiring more attention than the hardier kind 
of sheep, the ewes that are coming to the last week of pregnancy 
shruld be separated from the others according to their numbers, and 
brought nearer homo, that they may be put into a yard at night, con- 
structed fiir this purpose, having a good shed in it, and being well 
protected from the cold wind. They should have a plentiful supply 
of turnips, ox-cabbage, &c. The greatest attention should be paid to 
them at this time, and the shepherd should be with them as much as 
hii other duties will permit. If it is a peculiarly-valuable flock, the 



MANAGEMENT OF THE LEICESTER SHEEP. 35 

Mieplievcl should sleep on the premises, for the Leicester P'.ves are 
more linble to require assistance when yeaning than any f)lh.or sheep 
are. The lambs are generally large, and the ewes very fat, and so 
a Jouble difficulty occurs. 

The lambs are kept up for a few nights, leaving them out with the 
mothers in the daytime. Tliey should be castrated when aliout a 
foitnight old ; but a fine and dry day should be selected, and they 
snould be kept up for two or three nights afterward. They should 
likewise be tailed at the same time. The lambs remain with their 
mothers until the beginning or middle of July ; they are then weaned 
and turned into good pasture of seeds or grass, until the latter end 
of October, when they are put upon turnips — sometimes the com- 
mon turnips first, and afterward the Swedes ; but they do better 
upon turf, provided it is to be had — a few tui'nips being drawn when 
the weather is severe. The ewes remain on tlie ordinary pasture, 
which probably will bear from seven to eight per acre, until within 
three weeks of their being put to the ram, when they should bo 
changed into good pasture, which will cause them to flower sooner 
and mure regularly. The ewes continue on the old pastures until 
the end of November, from the time the rams are taken away, when 
they are sometimes hurdled upon turnips, the fat sheep having been 
penned upon them first, and the ewes following to make clean work. 

The lambs are seldom shorn until the second year, when the fleece 
will weigh between 7 and 8 lbs., the length of the staple being from 
ten to twelve inches. The aged ewes yield from 5^ to 6 lbs. of wool. 
The usual time of shearing the store sheep is from the beginnino' 
to the middle or end of June ; sometimes, however, they are shorn 
in May, and yield from 7 to 9 lbs. of wool. The washing usually 
takes place in the last week in May; after which the sheep are sent 
into clean pastures for a week or a fortnight before they are shorn. 
Some farmers permit a longer time to elapse in order to allow the 
yolk to rise into the wool; this makes it weigh heavier, and also 
work better in the manufacturing process. The yearling wethers 
are generally separated from the theaves at the time of shearing, and 
they are put upon good keep, and most frequently upon seeds. The 
theaves run upon the common pasture until the ewes go to better 
keep, previous to their being sent to the ram. The wethers are gen- 
erally kept on turnips, and sold in the eaily part of the following 
spring. On large and well-conducted farms they have a rack in the 
field, well supplied with coarse hay or straw, and a trough is fixed 
under the rack, containing common or rock salt. The system of 
folding is rarely adopted where the New Leicester sheep are kept : 
neither the nature of the sheep nor the size of the farms will often 
allow it. 

No apology is made for the insertion of this simple, intelligible, 
and complete system of long-woolled sheep-husbandry : it should, 
liowever, be stated, that it more accurately describes the course pur 
sue 1 l)y the large than the small farmer. 



S5 YOUATT ON SUGKP. 

CHAPTER V. 

Middle- Woolled Sliecp. — The Soulh-Downs — The Spanish Sheep, — The Merino Brees, 

By the tei-m middle-wools are meant the South-Down, Ncifolk, 
Dorset, Cheviot, and other fleeces which occupy an intermediate 
place between the short wools of Spain end Germany and the long 
of Leicester and Lincoln. 

The South-Downs are a long range of chalky hills, diverging from 
the great chalky stratum which intersects the kingdom from Norfolk 
to Dorchester. They enter the county of Sussex on the west side, 
and are continued almost in a direct line as far as East Bourne, 
where they reach the sea. They may be considered as occupying a 
space of more than sixty miles in length, and about five or six in 
breadth, consisting of a succession of open downs, with few enclo- 
sures, and distinguished by their situation and name from a more 
northern tract of similar elevation and soil, passing through Surrey 
and Kent, and terminating in the cliffs of Dover, and of the Fore- 
lands. On these downs a certain breed of sheep has boen cultivated 
for many centuries, in greater perfection than elsewhere ; and hence 
have sprung those successive colonies, which have found their v/ay 
to every part of the kingdom, and materially benefited the breed of 
short-woolled sheep wherever they have gone. 

THE SOUTH-DOWNS. 

It is only lately, however, that they have been brought to that 
degree of perfection which they at present exhibit. Their zealous 
advocate, and the breeder to whom they are indebted more than to 
any other for the estimation in which they are now justly held, Mr. 
EUman, says of them : "This breed was formerly of a small size, 
and far from possessing a good shape, being long and thin in the 
iieck, high on the shoulders, low behind, high on the loins, down on 
the rumps, the tail set on very low, perpendicular from the hip- 
bones, sharp on the back — the ribs flat, not bowing, narrow in the 
fore-quarters, but good in the leg, although having big bones." 

This breed is now much improved. " They are now," says Mr. 
Ellman, "much improved in both shape and constitution. They are 
smaller in bone, equally hardy, with a greater disposition to fatten, 
and much heavier in carcase when fat. They used seldom to fatten 
until they were four years old ; but it would now be a rare sight to 
see a pen of South-Down wethers at market more than two years 
old, and many are killed before they reach that age." 

This animal has a patience of occasional short keep, and an endu- 
rance of hard stocking scarcely surpassed by any other sheep, an 
early maturity not inferior to that of the Leicesters, the flesh finely 
grained, and the wool of tlie most useful quality. 

The South-Down sheep are polled ; but it is probable that the 
original breed was horned. It has been shovv'u that the primitive 
bree-i of sheep was piobably horned. The ram that was sacrificed 



THE SOUTH-DOWNS. 



37 



by Abraham, iVjtead of his son, was entangled in a tliicket by his 
horns; and it is not unusual to find ann)u<^ the male South-Down 
lambs some with small horns. 




South-Down Ram. 

The dusky or sometimes black hue of the head and legs of tlie 
South-Downs, not only proves the original color of the sheep, nnd 
perhaps of all sheep, but the later period at which it was seriously 
attempted to get rid of this dingy hue proving unsuccessful, only 
confirms this view. Many of the lambs have been dropped entirely 
black. 

Green rye is the food most in use in the beginning of spring. 
Rye-grass succeeds to the rye, and affords excellent food until the 
latter end of June, when the winter tares will follow. These, ac- 
cording to Mr. Elhnan, may be sown from the beghining of October 
to the beginning of the May following; so that one crop may follow 
the other as it may be wanted. 

Tares, clover, or rape, come next in order. The tares are prob- 
ably not so good as the clover or rape ; but this depends much on 
the situation and soil of the farm. Lastly, for wintei'-food, come the 
tui'nips, of which the sheep-owner should be careful always to have 
a sufficient quantity. The Swedes are preferable, if they can be 
sown .'sufficiently early, and will last until the lambing-time ; but they 
should not be given afterward, for the lambs do not always thrive 
upon them. 

There are no sheep more healtliy than the South-Downs. They 
seldom suffer from the hydatid on the brain, nor, on the majority of 
the farms, are they so much exposed to the rot as in many other dis- 
tricts. Their getieral health may be much connected wilh tliis fie- 
quent change ^.f food, and their periodical journevs to and from the 
fold. 



38 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

The rams are usually put with the ewes abou^ the middle of (3ct.>- 
bar, and remain with them three or four weeks. The careful breed- 
er, where his farm will admit of it, puts only one ram to a certain 
number of ewes in each enclosure — about forty to a lamb-ram, and 
eiglity to one fully grown. He thus knows the progeny of each 
ram — a circumstance of no little importance with regard to the im- 
provement of the breed. At the, end of the third or fourth week, 
the whole flock is again put together; two or thi'ee rams being leil' 
with them in case any of the ewes should still remain »t heat. 

It is believed that the treatment of the ewes at this time has con- 
siderable connexion with the number of lambs which they will pio- 
duce. If they are well kept, a considerable proportion of «h»^m will 
probably have twins. It is possible that the stimulus of plentifnl 
and nutritious food may have some influence on the number of tho 
lambs ; but if the farming arrangements of the sheep-breeder shoul-' 
render it desiralde for his stock thus rapidly to multiply, he w(m''' 
be most likely to accomplish his object by breeding from rams at?"' 
ewes that were twins. No fact can be more clearly established tha. 
an hereditary tendency to fecundity. 

The Sussex farmers usually set an example of humanity to thoa« 
in many other districts, in the care which they take of the ewe a' 
the time of yeaning. She is driven home, or there are sheds o? 
sheltered places for her constructed in the field, and the loss, as i' 
regards the mother or ihe lamb, is comparatively light; while th( 
owner has the satisfactory reflection that these valuabJe animalf 
have not been cruelly abandoned at a time of suffering and danger. 

The stock of the Sussex sheep-breeder does not often contait 
many wethers. The wether-lambs, if not sent to the Weald, an 
usually sold when about six months old, and the ewes are alwayt 
disposed of at four or five years old, and before they have begun tc 
lose their teeth. Very large lambs are certainly often procui'ed fron 
old ewes, but they do not fatten so well as those that are yeaned b) 
younger sheep. The average price of the lambs is from \2s. to 15*.. 
and of the draught-ewes from 18*. to 24*. The wethers that are 
kept have a greater quantity of grass, and fewer turnips, than is the 
practice with most other breeds ; but the greater part of them, and 
sometimes the whole number, are sent to the small farmers in the 
Weald, in order t(5 be kept during the winter. The number of 
South-Down sheep sent for the supply of the London market, has 
for many years past been regularly increasing; and while the quality 
of the flesh pleases the customer, they are generally admitted to be 
the hest j)roqf sheep that are brought to Smithfield. 

The average dead-weight of the South-Down wether varies from 
110 to 150 lbs. ; but Mr. Cxiantham exhibited a pen of three sheep in 
the last show of the Smithfield Club (1835), one of them weighing 
fSSlbs. ; a second, 28Glbs. ; and the third. 294lbs. 

The average weight of the fleece of a South-Down hill sheep was 
stated by Mr. Luccock, in 1800, to be 21bs. ; it has now increased 
to Slbs. The fleece of the lowland sheep, that used to be 31bs., is 
now 3^, or even 4 lbs. Tiiis is the natural consequence of the dif 



THE SOUTH-DOWNS. B% 

feiei.t mode f feeding, and the larger size of the animal. Tlie 
length of the staple in the hill sheep rarely exceeded 2 inches, and 
was oftener not more than 11 inches : it is now more than 2 inches, 
and in soine of the lowland sheep it has reached to 4 inches. The 
number of hill sheep had rather decreased since 1800, and those in 
the lowlands had materially so ; but now that South-Down wool is 
once more obtaining a remunerating price, the flocks are becoming 
larger than they were. The color of the wool differs materially, ac- 
cording to the color of the soil. The shortest and the finest wool is 
produced on the chalky soil, where the sheep have to travel far for 
their food; but there is a hardness and a brittlencss about this wool 
which was always seriously objected to. 

The greater comparative bulk of the fibre, and paucity of serra- 
tions, will account for the harshness and want of felting property, 
which have been considered as defects in this wool. The brittle- 
ness of the pile is, perhaps, to be attiibuted chiefly to the soil. 
The clothiers were always careful not to use too much of it in the 
making of their finest cloths. When most in repute, the South- 
Dovvn was principally devoted to the manufacture of servants' and 
army clothing, or it was sparingly mixed with other wools for finer 
cloth. Now, however, when it is materially increased in length, and 
become a combing wool, and ajiplicable to so many more purposes 
than it was before — now that it enters into the composition of flan- 
nels, baizes, and worsted goods of almost every description — its 
fineness and its felting, compared with some of the other shoit 
wools, render it a truly valuable article. The South-Down sheep- 
master justly repudiates the charge of its deterioration — it has only 
changed its character — it has become a good combing wool, instead 
of an infei-ior carding one; it has become more extensively useful, 
and therefore more valuable; and the time is tiot flu- distant when 
the sheep-owner will be convinced that it is his interest to make the 
South-Down wool even longer and heavier than it now is. 

One species of South-Down wool has decidedly improved — the 
hogget wool, or that which is left on the sheep untouched until the 
second shearing-time. This was always used as a combing wool ; 
and its increased length, since the present system of sheep manaire- 
ment has been adopted, adds mateiially to its value. It is finer than 
the long wools — it has more feltiness about it, and it is applicable to 
more numerous and profitable purposes. 

The practice of letting and selling rams was more prevalent and 
more profitable among the breeders of the South-Down sheep than 
of any other kind, except the Leicesters. At the sheep-sheaiing at 
Woburn, in 1800, a South-Down ram, belonging to the duke of 
Bedford, was let for one season at 80 guineas, two others at 40 
guineas each, and four more at 28 guineas each. This practice has 
been, of later years, pursued extensively and profitably by Messrs. 
Ellman, Grantham, Todd, and others. 

Two years previously to this, the Emperor of Russia bought two 
Df Mr. Eliman's rams, in order to try the effect of the cross on tho 
northern sheep. The duke of Bedford, at the request of Mr. Eli- 



40 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

man, put a price upon them, observing that he tlid not w;8}v to 
(•,har<re a foreign sovereign, who had done him so much honor, more 
than any o:her individual. Tlie price fixed by the duke was 300 
guineas for the two, and he purchased two more for himself at the 
same rate. 

The pure South-Downs have penetrated to almost every part ol 
ihe kingdom; and everywhere they have succeeded, when care was- 
taken that the locality and the soil were suited to the breed : except 
that on the northei'n hills, where the Cheviots and the black-faced 
sheep wander, they have not thriven so well as on their native downs. 
On the south coast, and the adjacent inland counties, the sheep 
seem to have one common origin with the South-Downs, or evidently 
owe almost all that is good about them to the influence of this valu- 
able breed. The best black-faced sheep of Hampshire are a cross 
between the old black-faced Berkshire and the pure South-Down. 
The modern Berkshire owes his best qualities to the same source ; 
and the Wiltshire is become but a variety of the South-Down, 
Crosses between the South-Down and the Norfolk breeds are much 
valued in Norfolk, Suftblk, and Cambridge ; and in Norfolk, as well 
as in Dorset, the South-Downs are contending, and successfully, 
with the pure breeds of those counties on their own ground, and 
promising, at no very distant time, either quite to supersede them, 
or materially diminish their range. A contest that will be attended 
by a similar result, is carrying on between them and the Cotswolds 
and the Rylands, in some parts of Gloucester and Hereford. 

They have reached, and they have established themselves, in Ire- 
land. The first experiment was made in the county of Wicklow, 
under the direction of the Farming society of Ireland, and they 
improved, and in process of time almost banished, the native breed. 
Thence they spread in greater or less numbers, and where the lo- 
cality suited, to almost every part of the sister island. 

The old sheep of the Weald of Sussex (a few of which are still 
found in many parts of it, feeding on the commons in summer, and 
the stubbles and ley-gi'ounds in winter) are small, ill-formed, slow 
to fatten, and with comparatively coarse wool. They betray, how- 
ever, considerable affinity to the South-Downs, and were prol)abl5 
the native sheep of the hills, either not improved, or degenerated in 
size, and form, and wool. The Weald farmers do not often keep 
many sheep of their own, but depend on the Down flocks to consume 
their winter food. The wool of the Weald sheep used to resemble 
that of the underbill South-Downs, being longer, coarser, and yet 
softer, than that of the more upland sheep. 

In Western Sussex, where the land is considered too good and 
wet to keep breeding flocks, a heavier sort of sheep is found, which 
seem to have been a cross of the Somersets and the Downs, and are 
purchased by the farmers in the autumn, at the fairs in the west of 
England. 

In many paits of Sussex, the Somersets and Dorsets are mucli 
used for early lambs. Pampered on the richest keep, the period 
of irstrum is considerably hastened: the lambs are dropped in Jan 



THE SPANISH SHEEP. 41 

nary, and sometimes in December, and are ready for the L:)ndon 
market on or before Easter. The Down lambs also fatten kindly, 
and come to the market in June and July, being then much more 
delicate than the earlier horned lambs. 

THE SPANISH SHEEP. 

The Spanish' sheep, in different countries has, either directly or 
indirectly, effected a complete revolution in the character of the fleece. 

The early writers on agriculture and the veterinary art, describe 
various breeds of sheep, as existing in Spain : they were of different 
colors — black, and red, and tawny. The black sheep yielded a 
fine fleece — the finest of that color, which was then known ; but the 
red fleece of Baetica — Granada, and Andalus^ia — was of still superior 
quality, and " had no fellow." 

These sheep were .probably imported from Italy. They were the 
Tareiitine breed, already described, and which had gradually spread 
from the coast of Syria, and the Black sea, and had now reached the 
western extremity of Europe. Many of them mingled with and im- 
proved the native breeds of Spain, while others continued to exist as 
a distinct race ; and, meeting with a climate and a herbage suited to 
them, retained their original character and value, and were the pro- 
genitors of the Merinocs of the present day. Columella, a colonist 
from Italy, and uncle to the writer of an excellent work on agricul* 
tui'e, resided in Btetica, in the reign of the Emperor Claudius (a. d. 
41). He introduced more of the Tarentine sheep into Spain, and 
he otherwise improved on the native breed ; for, struck with the 
beauty of some African rams, which were brought to Rome to be 
exhibited at the public games, he purchased them, and conveyed 
them to his farm in Spain. Hence, probably, the better varieties of 
the Chunah, or long-wooUed breeds of Spain, that will presently 
come under consideration. 

Previous, however, to the time of Columella, Spain possessed a 
valuable breed of sheep; for Strabo, who floiirisTied under Tiberius, 
speaking of the beautiful woollen cloths that were worn by the Ro- 
mans, says that the wool was brought from Truditania, in Spain. 

With regard to the extent of these improvements history is silent; 
but as Spain was at that time highly civilized, and as agriculture 
was the favorite pursuit of the greater part of the colonists that 
spread over the vast territory, which then owned the Roman power, 
it is highly probable, that the experiments of Columella, laid th« 
foundation for a general improvement in the Spanish sheep — an im 
provement which was not lost, nor even materially impaired, during 
the darker ages that succeeded. 

The original Spanish sheep were, according to Pliny, Solinjs, and 
Columella, some black-fleeced ; some produced red or Erytliaeau 
wool ; and some, as those about Cordova, had a tawny fleece. The 
remains of these ancient varieties of color, may still be discerned in 
the modern Merino sheep. The plain and indeed the only reason 
that can be assigned for the union of black and gray faces, with 
white bodies in the same breed, is the frequent intermixture of black 



42 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

and wliite sheep, until the white prevails in the fleece, and the Wac)i 
is confined to the face and legs. It is still apt to break out occasion- 
ally in the individual, unless it is fixed, and concentrated in the lace 
and legs, by repeated crosses and a careful selection ; and, on the 
contrary, in the Merino South-Down the black may be reduced by 
a few crosses to small spots about the legs, while the Merino huf« 
overspreads the countenance. The Merino hue, so variously ae- 
scribed as a velvet, a buff, a fawn, or asatin-coloied countenance, but 
in which a red tinge not unfrequently predominates, still indicates 
the original colors of the indigenous breeds of Spain ; and the black 
wool, for which Spain was formex'ly so much distinguished, is still 
ipt to break out occasionally in the legs and ears of the Merino race. 
In some flocks, half the ear is invariably brown, and a coarse black 
hair is often discernible in the finest pile. 

In the eighth century the Saracens established themselves in Spain, 
and they found it fruitful in corn, and pleasant in fruits, and " glutted 
with herds and flocks." The luxury of the Moorish sovereigns, has 
been the theme of many a writer, and a rich and expensive dress 
has always been one of the leading articles of luxury : accordingly 
in the thirteenth century, when the woollen manufacture was scarcely 
known in a great part of Europe, and in few places flourished, there 
were found in Seville no less than 16,000 looms. At the same pe- 
riod, the cloths of Lerida were much esteemed. A century after- 
ward, Barcelona, and Perpignan, and Tortosa, were celebrated for 
the fineness of their cloths, and the greater part of Europe, as well 
as the coast of Africa, was supplied with them ; and, later than this, 
and in the time of Charles V., Spain was full of flocks and herds, 
and not only furnished its own people most abundantly, but also for- 
eign nations, with the softest wool. In 1576, there were annually 
exported fiom Spain to Bruges alone, 40,000 sacks of wool, each 
selling for at least 20 gold ducats (845) ; and others, of a finer kind, 
were sent to Italy, at the price of 50 gold ducats ($112.50), per sack. 

After the expulsion of the Saracens the woollen manufacture lan- 
guished, and was in a manner lost, in Spain. Ferdinand V. banished 
nearly 100,000 industrious people, because they were Moors, and 
for this vt'orthy deed was honored with the title of catholic. His 
successor, Philip III., drove from Valentia, more than 140,000 of 
the Mahometan inhabitants; and in the three following years 600,000 
more were expelled from Murcia, Seville, and Granada. The ma- 
jority of these people were artisans — weavers ; and the natural C(m- 
sequence was, that the 16,000 looms of Seville dwindled down to 
sixty, and the woollen manufacture*almost ceased to have existence 
throughout Spain. 

The Spanish government at length saw, but too late, its fatal er- 
ror, and many attempts have been since fruitlessly made to produce 
again the beautiful fabrics of former days. All this while, however, 
the Spanish sheep, seem to have withstood the baneful influence of 
almost total neglect. Until a few years ago, the Peninsula contin- 
ued to possess the most valuable fine-woolled sheep ; and will alwaya 
have to boast that, althougli the Merino flocks and the Merino wool, 



THE SPANISH SHEEP. 42 

have improved unddr the moie careful management of olhef c:)iu.- 
tries, Europe and the world are originally indebted to Spain, for the 
most valual)Ie material in the manufacture of cloth. 

Pedro IV. of Spain imported, for the supposed improvement of 
ihe Spanish sheep, several Barbary rams ; and that, two hundred 
years afterward, Cardinal Ximenos had recourse to African rams for 
the same purpose. Of the effect produced by these experiments, 
there is no authentic account. It is probable that the Barbary sheep, 
ike the Cotswolds of England, were employed in improving the 
coarser and long-woolled breed of Spanish sheep; and that the short- 
er and finer woolled sheep, the breed whence the present race of 
Merinoes descended, were undebased by foreign admixture. 

The perpetuation of the Merino sheep in all its purity, amidst the 
convulsions which changed the v/hole political existence of Spain, 
and destroyed every other national improvement, is a fact which the 
})hilosopher and the philanthropist may not be able fully to explain : 
but which he will contemplate with deep interest. In the mind of 
the agriculturist, it will beautifully illustrate the primary determin- 
ing power of blood or breeding, and also the agency of soil and 
climate, a little too much underrated perhaps, in modern times. 

The Spanish sheep are divided into the cstantes or stationary, and 
the transhumantes or migratory. The stationary sheep are those 
that remain during the whole of the year on a certain farm, or in a 
certain district, there being a sufficient provision for them in winter 
and in summer. The translmmantes wander some hundreds of miles 
twice in the year, in search of pasture. 

The principal breed of stationary sheep consists of true Merinoes, 
but the breeds most sought foi', and with which so many countries 
have been enriched, are the Merinoes of the migratory description, 
which pass the summer in the mountains of the north and the winter 
on the plains toward the south of Spain. 

The first impression made by the Merino sheep on one unacquaint- 
ed with its value would be unfavorable. The wool lying closer and 
thicker over the body than in most other breeds of sheep, and being 
abundant in yolk, is covered with a dirty crust, often full of cracks. 
The legs are long, yet small in the bone ; the breast and the back are 
narrow, and the sides somewhat flat; the fore-shoulders and bosoms 
are heavy, and too much of their weight is carried on the coarser 
paits. The horns Zi'l the male are comparatively large, curved, and 
with more or less of a spiral form ; the head is large, but the fore- 
head rather low. A few of the females are horTied, but, generally 
speaking, they are without horns. Both male and female have a pe- 
culiar coarse and unsightly growth of hair on the forehead and cheeks, 
which the careful sheepmaster cuts away before the shearing-time ; 
the other part of the face has a pleasing and characteristic velvet ap- 
pearance. Under the throat there is a singular looseness of skin, 
which gives them a remarkable appearance of throatiness, or hollow- 
ness in the neck. The pile, when pressed upon, is hard and unyield- 
ing ; it is so from the thickness with which it grows en the pelt, and 
«he abundance of the yolk, retaining all the dirt and gravel which 



44 



YOUATT ON SHEEP 



falls upcn it ; but, when examineLl, tlie fibre exceeds in fineness, and 
in tlje number of serrations and curves, that which any other sheer 
in the world pi'oduces. The average weight of the fleece in Soain is 
eiglit pounds from the ram, and five from the ewe. The staple dif- 
fers in length in different provinces. When fatted, these sheep will 
weigh from twelve to sixteen pounds per quarter. 



^^'O"/'! 








Merino B,am. 



The excellency of the Merinoes consists In the unexampled fine 
ness and felting property of tlieir wool, and in the weight of it yield- 
ed by eacli individual sheep ; the closeness of that wool, and the lux- 
uriance of the yolk, which enables them to support extremes of cold 
and wet quite as well as any other breed ; the easiness with which 
they adapt themselves to every change of climate, and thrive and re- 
tain, with common care, all their fineness of wool, under a burning 
tropical sun, and in the frozen regions of the nt)rth ; an appetite which 
renders them apparently satisfied with the coart<est food; a quietness 
and patience into whatever pasture they are. turned, and a gentleness 
and tractableness not excelled in any other breed. 

Their defects, partly attributable to the breed, but more to the im- 
proper mode of tieatment to which they are occasionally subjected, 
are, their unthrifty and unprofitable form; a voraciousness of appe- 
tite which yields no adequate return of condition ; a tendency to aboi'- 
tion or to barrenness; a difficulty of yeaning; a paucity of milk, and 
a too fi 3quent neglect of their young. They are likewise said, not- 
withstanding the fineness of their wool and the beautiful red color 
of the skin when the fleece is parted, to be more subject to cutaneous 
afi^ections than most other breeds. Man, however, has far more to do 
with this than Nature, Everything was sacrificed in Spain to fineness 



THE SPANISH SHEEP. 4t'' 

and quantity of wool. These were supposed to be coiinecled with 
equality of temperature, or at least with freedom from exposure to 
cold : and therefore twice in the year a journey of four hundred miles 
was undertaken, at the rate of eighty or a hundred miles per week 
and the spring journey commencing when the lambs were scarcely 
four months old. It is difficult to say in what way the wool of the 
migratory sheep was or could be benefited by these periodical jour- 
neys. It is true that among them is found the finest and the most 
valuable wool in Spain. The Leonese fleece will at all times sell for 
considerably more per found than that of any other Spanish sheep ; 
but, on the other hand, the estante's of Segovia are more valuable 
fhan the transhumantes of Soria. Sir Joseph Banks goes further, 
for he says that '• Burgoyne tells us that there are stationary flocks, 
both in Leon and Estremadura, v/hich produce wool quite as good 
as that of the transhumantes." In addition to this is the now ac- 
knowledged fact that the fleece of some of the German Merinoes, 
who travel not at all, and are housed all the winter, as much exceeds 
that obtained fiom the Leonese sheep in fineness and felting proper- 
ty, as the Leonese fleece exceeds the Sorian ; and the wool of the * 
migratory sheep is comparatively driven out of the market by tli t 
from sheep which never travel. At all events, the advantages de- 
rived from the Mesta are overrated so far as the fleece is concerned ; 
while, with respect to the carcass, by these harassing journeys, oc- 
cupying one quarter of the year, the possibility of fattening and the 
tendency to fatten must be destroyed, and the form and the constitu* 
tion of the flock deteriorated, and the lives of many sacrificed. 

The migratory sheep may be divided into two classes, or immense 
flocks — the Leonese and the Sorians. The Leonese, among which 
are the Negrettes, after having been cantoned during the winter on 
the north bank of the Guadiana, in Estremadura, begin their march 
about the 15th of April in divisions of two or three thousands. They 
pass the Tagus at Almares, and direct their course toward Trecasas, 
Alfaro, and L'Epinar, where they are shorn. This operation having 
been performed, they recommence their travels toward the kingdom 
of Leon. Some halt on the Sierra (ridge of mountains) which sepa- 
rates Old from New Castile, but others pursue their route to the pas- 
tures of Cervera, near Aquilar del Campo. Here they graze until the 
end of September, when they commence their return to Esti-emadura. 

The Sorian sheep, having passed the winter on the confines of 
Estremadura, Andalusia, and New Castile, begin their route about 
the same time. They pass the Tagus at Talavera, and aj)proacb 
Madrid ; thence they proceed to Soria, where a portion of them aie 
distributed over the neighboring mountains, while the others cross 
the Ebro in order to proceed to Navarre and the Pyrenees. 

These periodical journeys can be traced back to the middle of the 
fourteenth century, when a tribunal was established for their ?-egula- 
tion. It was called the Mesta (the derivation of this term is disputed), 
and consisted then, and continues to consist, of the chief proprietors 
of tliese migratoiy flocks. It established a right to graze on all the 
open and common land that lay in the way it claimed also a path 



16 TOUATT ON SHErP. 

ninety yards wide through all the enclosed and cultivated country 
and it prohibited all persons, even foot-passer.gers, from travelling 
jn these roads while the sheep were in motion. 

The number of migratory sheep is calculated at ten millions. 
They are divided into flocks, each of which is placed under the care 
of a mayoral, or chief shepherd, who has a sufficient number of oth- 
ers under his command, with their dogs. He uniformly precedes the 
flock, and directs the length and speed of the journey ; the others, 
with the dogs, follow, and flank the cavalcade, collect the stragglers, 
and keep off" the wolves, who regularly follow at a distance and mi- 
grate with the flock. A few as^es or mules accompany the proces- 
sion, in order to carry the little clothing and other necessaries of 
the shepherds, and the materials for the fold at night. Several of 
the sheep, principally wethers, are perfectly tamed, and taught to 
obey the signals of the shepherds. These follow the leading shep- 
herd, having been accustomed to be fed from his hand; they lead 
the flock — there is no driving — and the rest quietly follow. 

When passing through the enclosures, they sometimes travel 
eighteen or twenty miles a day; but when they reach an open coun- 
try, with good pasture, they proceed more leisurely. Their whole 
journey is usually more than four hundred miles, which they accom- 
plish in six weeks, and thus spend, in going and returning, nearly 
one quarter of the year in this injurious manner. 

It may be readily supposed that much damage is done, carelessly, 
or unintentionally, or wilfully, to the country over which these im- 
mense flocks are passing; and particularly as the migrations take 
place at the times of the year when the property of the agriculturist is 
most liable to injury. In the spring the corn has attained considera- 
ole height, and in the autumn the vines are laden with grapes. The 
commons also are so completely eaten down by the immense num- 
oer of migratory sheep, that those which belong to the neighborhood 
are, for a period, half starved. In addition to this, the servants of the 
Mesta, like the servants of government elsewhere, have little com- 
mon feeling with the inhabitants of the country which they are trav- 
ersing ; they commit much sei'ious and wanton injury, and they 
refuse all redress. 

The shepherds and the sheep ecpially know when the procession 
has arrived at the point of its destination. It is necessary to exert 
great vigilance over the flock during the last three or four days, for 
the animals are eager to start away, and often great numbers of 
them make their escape. If they are not destroyed by the wolves, 
there is no other danger, however, of losing them ; for they are 
found on their old pasture, quietly waiting the arrival of their com- 
panions, and it would be difficult tc make any of them proceed a 
gieat way beyond this spot. Even the stray sheep are generally 
found on the particular unfenced portion of ground, called a dehesa, 
which IS allotted for the flock to which they belong. The shep- 
herds are immediately employed in constructing pens for the pro- 
tection of the sheep during the night, and wnich are composed of 
ropes made by twisting certain rushes together which grow plenti 



THE SPANISH SHEEP. 49 

fully tliere, and nttacliing them to stakes driven into tlie ground. 
They next build, with the branches of trees roughly hewn, rude huts 
for themselves. 

When the sheep arrive at their summer pasture, which at first is 
very luxuriant, tlie mayoral endeavors to guard against the possible 
ill effect of the change from the uncertain and scanty pasturage found 
on the journey, by giving the flock a considerable quantity of salt. 
He places a great many flat stones five or six feet from each other, 
and strews salt upon them ; he then leads his flock slowly through 
tlie avenue of stones, and they devour the salt with great avidity. 
This is repeated on several successive days; and a case of general 
inflammation, or of hoove — the penalty too often paid by shepherds 
elsewhere for turning their flock unprepared on new and rich herb- 
age — seldom occurs among the Spanish sheep. 

During the summer pasturnge tlie labor of the shepherd is light. 
The ewes are put to the rams early in August. After their return 
at the close of autumn, and when yeaning-time approaches, the bar- 
ren ewes are separated fi'om the others and placed upon the poorest 
pasture. The Merinoes are not good nurses, and nearly half of the 
lambs — or in bad seasons, and when the pasture fails, full three 
fourths — are destroyed as soon as they are yeaned. The males 
are always sacrificed first : the others are usually suckled by two 
ewes — for it is a common opinion in Spain that the mother that 
fully suckles- her lamb would yield less wool : they are after- 
ward placed on the best pasture, in order that they may acquire 
sufficient strength for their approaching journey. The number of 
lambs slaughtered is sometimes so great that they are sold to the 
neighboring villagers for less than half a franc each. Most of the 
skins are sent into Portugal, and thence find their way to England, 
where they ai"e used for the manufacture of gloves. Morning-gowns, 
both light and of good appearance, are frequently made from the skins. 
The wool is soft and silky, and is formed into little rings or curls. 

Few of the male lambs are castrated, because it is believed that 
the weight of the fleece is much increased an the ram, without ac- 
quiring proporti(fnal coarseness. 

The Merino fleece is in Spain sorted into four parcels. The fol- 
lowing cut, while it contains the portrait of a Alerino ewe, points 
out the parts whence the different wools are generally procured. 
The divisioti can not always be accurate, and especially in sheep of 
an inferior quality, but it is more to be depended upon in the Menuv, 
sheep wherever found, for the fleece is more equally good, and the 
quantity of really bad wool is very small. 

Both Lasteyrie and Livingston agree in this division. The refina 
(fig. 1), or the pick-lock wool, begins al the withers, and extends 
along the back to the setting on of the tail. It reaches only a little 
way down at the quarters, but, dipping down at the flanks, takes in 
all the superior part of tlie chest, and the middle of the side of the 
neck to the angle of che lower jaw. The Jina (fig. 2), a valuable 
wool, bat not s ^ deeply serrated, or possessing so many curves as the 
'^rfina, occupies the belly, and the quarters and 'highs, down to the 



48 



YOUATT ON SHEEP. 



Stifle joint. The terccira (fig. 3), or wool of the third quality, :s 
found on the head, the throat, the lower part of the neck, and tho 
shoulders, terminating at the elbow : the wool yielded by the leg^. 
and reaching fiom the stifle to a little below the hock, forms a part 
of the same division. A small quantity of very inferior wool is pro- 
cured from the tuft that grows on the forehead and cheeks — from the 
tail, and from the legs below the hock (fig. 4). 







\V' 






■m^'f^- 



^t^^^^^m^ 



Merino Ewe. 



The Spanish wool, continues to be highly valued by the manufai 
turer; and the Spanish breed of sheep will be regarded with intei 
est as the improver of the best old short-wooUed ones, and the parent 
of a new race, spreading through every quarter of the world, and 
with which, so far as the fleece is concerned, none«of the old breeds 
can be for a moment compared. 



CHAPTER VI. 



Baxon Merino SJieep. — Prussian Sheep. — The Silesian Sheep. — The Hungarian SLeep.— 
The Merino Sheep in Britain, — North American Sheep. 

THE SAXON SHEEP. 

The Elector of Saxony ranks ainong the first who patriotically 
and wisely devoted himself to the improvement of the inferior breed 
of sheep which pastured on the neglected plains of Germany. Tho 
indigenous Saxon breed resembled that of the neighboring stales; :\ 



THE SAXON SHKEP. 49 

consisted of two tlistinct varieties — one bearin<T a wool of some value, 
and the other yielding a fleece applicable only to the coarsest manu- 
factures. 

In 1765, at the close of the seven years' war, the elector importeci 
•>ne hundred rams and two hundred ewes from the most improved 
Spanish flocks, and placed a part of them on one of his own farms in 
the neighborhood of Dresden; this portion he kept unmixed. li.o 
endeavoied to ascertain how far the pure Spanish breed could be 
naturalized in Saxony. The other part of the flock was distrib- 
uted on other farms, and devoted to the improvement of the Saxon 
sheep. 

It was soon suflficiently evident to the enlightened agriculturist, 
that the Merinoes did not deg'^nerate in Saxony ; many parcels of 
their wool were not inferior to the choicest fleeces of Leon. The 
best breed of the native Saxons was also materially improved. The 
prejudice against every innovation on the practice of their ancestors 
was, however, as strong in Saxony as elsewhere, and the majority 
of the sheep-masters were still averse to the improvement ; but the 
elector was determined to accomplish his object : he imported an 
additional number of the Spanish sheep, and then, adopting a meas- 
ure unworthy of such a cause, he compelled those who occupied 
land under him to buy a certain number of the Merino sheep. 

It was not necessary long to pursue this compulsory system : the 
most prejudiced were soon brought to perceive their true interest. 
The pure Merino breed rapidly increased in Saxony ; it became 
perfectly naturalized ; nay, after a considerable lapse of years, the 
fleece of the Saxon sheep began, not only to equal the Spanish, but 
to exceed it in fineness and in manufacturing value. 

The government of Saxony very materially contributed to this 
result, by the establishment of an agricultural school, and other minor 
schools fur shepherds, and by distributing certain publications which 
plainly and intelligibly explained the value and proper management 
of the Merino sheep. The government of a country may fail to ac- 
complish many capricious or tyrannical objects ; but it will receive 
its best i-eward in the full accomplishment of its purpose, when ii 
thus identifies itself with the best interests of its subjects. 

In Saxony, as in Silesia, although the sheep are housed at the be- 
ginning of winter, yet they are turned out and compelled to seek, 
perhaps under the snow, a portion of their food whenever the weather 
will permit; and the season must be unusually inclement in vvhicli 
they are not <lriven into the courts at least for two or three hourg 
during the middle of the day. The doors and windows also are fre- 
quently opened, that the sheep-houses may be sufficiently ventilated. 
Some sheep-masters, whose convenience is promoted by such a sys- 
tem, keep their flock in the house or the yard during the whole of 
the year; aTid it is not believed that the sheep suffer from this, 
either in their health, or in the fineness of their fleece. A a-real 
ijuantity of salt is usually given to the Saxon sheep, and principally 
during the summer, either in their drink, or spriidiled among the 
fodder. 

4 



TOUATT ON SHEEP. 




Saxon Merino Ram. 



The above is a portrait of a Saxpn-^Ierino ram, the prope;ty of 
Lord Western, and used by him extensively and beneficially in thp 
improvement of his Spanish Merinoes. It will be seen that his 
frame differs materially from the Spanish Merino : there is more 
roundness of carcass and fineness of bone, and that genei'al form and 
appearance which indicate a disposition to fatten, and are tolerably 
certain pledges that the carcass will not be entirely saci'ificed to the 
fleece. 

Very great care is taken by the Saxon sheep-master in the selec- 
tion of the lambs which are destined to be saved in order to keep 
lip the flock : there is no part of the globe in which such unremit- 
ting attention is paid to the flock. Mr. Charles Howard, in a letter 
with which he favored the author, says, that " when the lambs are 
weaned, each in his turn is placed upoJi a table, that his wool and 
form may be minutely observed. The finest are selected for breed- 
ing, and receive a first mark. AVhen they are one year old, and 
prior to shearing them, another close examination of those previously 
marked takes place : those in which no defect can be found, receive 
H second mark, and the rest are condemned. A few months after, 
ihey in like manner receive a third mark, when the slightest blemish 
causes a rejection of the animal. 

PRUSSIAN SHEEP. 

The Merinoes were introduced into Germany about the middle 
jf the eighteenth century, and the advantageous change they effected 
everywhere they were introduced, could not be disputed. Notwith- 
H'^Hut'ing this, Mr. Fink — to whom Germany owes much in regard 



PRUSSIAN SHEEP. 51 

to sheep-ciilture — iniwillinf^ to give up altogether the native breeds, 
purchased in 1768 some Saxon Meriuoes, aud though his breed was 
much improved, yet his ol)ject did not seem accompbshed, and in 
1778 he imported some pure Merinoes from Spain. He took as the 
guide of all his experiments, that which is now received as an axiom 
among breeders, that the fineness of the fleece, and to a great degree 
the value of the carcass too, are far more attributable to the inherent 
quality of the animal than to any influence of climate or of soil. 
Uniformly acting on this fundamental principle, and being most par- 
ticular in the selection of the animals from which he bred, he im- 
proved his own native flocks to a considerable extent, and he suc- 
ceeded to a degree which he dared not anticipate, in naturalizing 
a still more valuable race of animals. His success attracted the 
attention of the Prussian government; and Frederic H., in 178G, im- 
ported one hundred rams and two hundred ewes from Spain. Mr. 
Fink was subsequently commissioned by the government to purchase 
one thousand of the choicest jNIerinoes ; agricultural schools were 
established, and at the head of one of them was placed Mr. Fink — 
the most competent of all persons — the first improver of the Prus- 
sian sheep. The following was INIr. Fink's mode of management : — 

He properly maintains, that free exposure to the air is favorable 
to the quality of the wool, and therefore, although the sheep are 
housed at the beginning of NoTember, yet whenever it freezes, and 
the ground is hard, even although it may be covered with snow, the 
sheep are driven to the wheat and rye fields, where they meet with 
a kind of pasturage exceedingly wholesome, and while they feed 
there they are likewise benefiting the crop. Nothing is more com- 
mon than to see a flock of valuable sheep scratching away the snow 
with their feet in order to arrive at the short wheat or rye beneath. 
When the weather will not permit their being taken out, they are 
fed on hay, aftermath, and chopped straw of various kinds. The kind 
of straw is changed as often as possible, and wheat, barley, and oat- 
straw, and pease-haulm, follow each other in rapid succession. The 
oat-straw is sparingly given, and the pease-haulm is preferred to the 
wheat and barley straw. Oil-cake, at the rate of six or seven pounds 
per hundred sheep, and dissolved in watei", is also allowed when the 
flock can not be turned on the young wheat. 

Three or four weeks befine lambing, an additional allowance of 
hay and straw is given to the ewes ; and while they are suckling, a 
little oat-meal is mixed with the solution of oil-cake. When the 
weather will permit the turning out of the ewes, the lambs are still 
kept in the houses, and the mothers brought back to them at noon 
and night; after that, the lambs are not permitted to graze with the 
ewes, but are turned on the fallows or the clover of the precedin(> 
year; for it is supposed that they unnecessarily fatigue themselves 
by running with their mothers, and almost incessantly trying to suck, 
and that on this account they refuse the herbage on which they are 
placed, and take less nourishment than when quietly kept on separate 
pastiires. A few bairen ewes are, however, placed wilh the lambs 
for the purpose of guiding them, and perhaps teaching them tc select 



52 TOUATT ON SHEEP. 

the best ancl most wholesome food. More lambs are saved than are 
necessary to keep up the flock, and when they are two years old 
they are inspected — one third of the best of them are kept, and the 
remainder sold. The lambs are never shorn, in order that they may 
be better able to endure the cold and rain of autumn. 

The Prussian sheep-dogs, like almost all on the continent, are 
trained to obey the shepherds, and are skilful in guiding the sheep, 
but they never worry or bite them. There is no natural necessity 
for it anywhere ; and if flocks ai'e occasionally wild and intractable, 
bad management and bad treatment have made them so. 

o 

THE SILESIAN SHEEP. 

The native sheep were small, with long neck and legs, and the 
head, the belly, and the legs, devoid of wool. In the districts of 
Namslae and Oels was a superior breed, so far as the wool was con- 
cerned. They were never folded ; they were h(nised at night, even 
in summer; the sheen-houses were ill-ventilated, and the dung re- 
moved from them only twice in the year. 

Mr. Lasteyrie, the chief, or in fact the only authority in these 
matters, describes the labors of Count von Magnis to improve the 
Silesian flocks. When he retired to his vast estates at Eckersdorf, 
on which three thousand sheep were pastured, he found that the 
gross return from them amounted to only 1200 dollars (=£225). He 
first attempted to improve his smaller sheep by crossing them with 
the larger breed of Hungary ; but not succeeding in this to the ex- 
tent of his wishes, he had recourse to the Merinoes. He spared no 
expense in order to procure the best rams : he sometimes gave as 
much as a thousand francs for a single ram. In process of time, the 
wool yielded by the greater part of his flock would bear comparison 
with the best of Spain, and at length exceeded it in fineness and 
value ; and in the course of a few years his returns were multiplied 
more than tvv'enty-fold. . For the purpose of the best manufactures, 
the Silesian wool i'i almost equally valued with the purest and finest 
Saxony.* 

THE HUNGARIAN SHEEP. 

The Saxon-Merino was introduced into Hungary in 1775, by the 
Empress Maria Theresa, who also, at the same time, established an 
agricultural school. The progressive success of the Saxon sheep- 
husbandry began at length to make its due impression, and other 
Merinoes were procured from Spain in order to improve the flocks 
of Hungary; and the Hungarian sheep has finally rivalled, and even 
beaten, the Spanish Merino in the market of the world. The chief- 
wealth of Hungary is now derived from the cultivation of the sheep. 
A recent statistical account gives to Hungary seven millions of 
sheep, of which three millions belong to Prince Esterhazy. 

In every part of Germany and Austria, the number of sheep bred 
from the pure, or nearly pure, Merino, is constantly increasing 

• The Silesian wool is at the present clay more liighly valued, for fine broadcloths and 
tke finest fabrics, than that of Saxony, or of Spain, or of any other country. — Am Ed. 



/•HE MERINO SHEEP IN HRITAIN. 03 

The Gei-man wool is accounted the finest and softest in thb world. 
This results from the care there bestowed on the sheep, which is 
lioused and nursed as carefully as the racehorse is in a sporting stable. 

THE MERINO SHEEP IN BRITAIN. 

England was late in attempting to naturalize the Spanish sheej*, 
or to improve her own breed by an intermixture with them. There 
was some excuse for this, for she already possessed a clothing wool 
equal or superior to that of any other sheep except those of Spain: 
and her maritime habits and the extent of her commerce gave her 
easy access to the finer wools, far less necessary to the manufacturer 
at that period than fashion has now made them : at the same time 
her native combing wool was perfectly unrivalled. A few IMerino 
sheep, however, were introduced here and there, but they liad much 
prejudice to contend with, and their value was not duly appreciated. 

The monarch who, at the close of the eighteenth century, swayed 
the sceptre of Great Britain, was an ardent agriculturist, and he de- 
termined to give this celebrated breed of sheep a fair trial on his 
own farms. In the year 1787 measures were taken for the collec- 
tion and importation of a little flock of Merinoes. They were collect- 
ed in Estremadura, on the borders of Portugal — a few from one 
flock, and a few from another. It was a kind of smuggling transac- 
tion ; and as they could not be shipped from any Spanish port with- 
out a license from the king of Spain, they were driven through 
Portugal and embarked at Lisbon, landed at Portsmouth, and thence 
conducted to the king's farm at Kew. They did not please the royal 
adventurer, hastily selected, or obtained as they could be from 
various proprietors and various districts, there was no uniformity 
about them ; they could not be said fairly to exhibit the true charac- 
ter of their bi'-eed, nor was it safe to make any experiment with them. 

It was then determined to make direct application to the Spanish 
monarch for permission to select some sheep from one of the best 
flocks. This was liberally and promptly granted; and a little flock 
was drauo-hted of the Netrrette breed, the most valuable of the mig- 
ratory flocks, and the exportation of which was expressly proliibited 
by law. They arrived in England in 1791, and were immediately 
transferred to Kev/ : the sheep previously imported were destroyed, 
or otherwise disposed of. 

The Merinoes found some early and zealous advocates, and among 
them Sir Joseph Banks, Lord Somerville, and Dr. Parry. On the 
other hand there was much prejudice to contend with, and it was 
thirteen years after the arrival of the Nigrette flock ere they had 
been able to establish themselves in the good opinion of a suffi- 
cient number of agriculturists to render it prudent to expose them 
to sale by public auction. 

In ISll, a Merino society, with Sir Joseph BauKS as president, 

was instituted, and from this time the Merinoes rapidly fell in the 

estimation of British agriculturists. The Merinoes are a most valuable 

breed of sheep ; they yield a wool, which in fineness and manufac- 

uring quality was then unrivalled ; they have materially imjiroved 



64 YOUATT ON SLEEP. 

the fleece of every shoit-vvu oiled sheep which they have crossed, and 
liave increased the lengtli and weight of the staple, and adapted it 
for finer worsted stuffs ; and it is not improbable, although the ex- 
periment has never been fairly tried, that, with careful management, 
the crosses being few and far between— they would give a finer and 
more valuable fleece to tlie long-woolled breeds ; not injuring it for 
the purposes to which it is already applied, and rendering it useful 
for many other fabrics. It follows from this, that in every country 
where the farmer looks to the fleece, if not for his sole, yet his 
principal remuneration, the Merino will be duly valued, and will 
gradually supersede every other breed. In Great Britain, neverthe- 
less, where the system of artificial feeding is carried to so gi'eat a 
degree of perfection — where the sheep is so early and profitably 
brought to the market — that breed, however it may ultimately in 
crease the value of the wool, can never be adopted, which is deficient, 
as the Merinoes undeniably are, in the principle of early maturity, and 
general propensity to fatten. 

Another circumstance connected with the decline of Merinoes in 
this country, is the change in manufactures, creating a greater de- 
mand for the wools of the native breeds, which were much improved 
in their fleece, and its carcass being greatly superior in weight and 
quality, were also productive of a larger renumeration to the breeder, 
Consequently the reputation of the Spanish Merinoes declined so far 
that few are now to be found in Great Britain. 

The Saxon Merinoes yield, as has been already seen, a finer and 
more valuable wool than any which is imported from Spain. On 
another page is the portrait of a Saxon Merino belonging to that 
experienced and scientific agriculturist. Lord Western, and with 
which he is improving his former Spanish breed, and crossing some 
of the native sheep. Sir H. Vavasour, of Melbourne Hall, near 
York, and others, have likewise imported some Merinoes from Saxony. 
The Saxony sheep are decidedly superior to those brought immedi- 
ately from Spain, not only in their wool, but intheil' general form and 
propensity to fatten. If the British sheep is ever destined to yield 
a finer wool, sacrificing little or nothing in point of carcass, it must 
be by means of the Saxon, and not the direct Spanish Merino. 

NORTH AMERICAN SHEEP. 

Until the introduction of the Merinoes into North America little 
that was satisfactory could be affirmed of the sheep of any part of that 
country. Many portions cf the United States, and even of Canada, 
possessed advantages for the breeding of sheep that were not sur- 
passed in Europe. The country was undulating r r hilly — the hills 
covered with a fine herbage — the enclosures more extensive than ir 
the best breeding districts of England — almost eveiy pasture furnish 
ed with running water, and sheltered, moi'e or less, by trees, against 
the summer's sun ; yet the sheep were of the commonest kind : 
there was a prejudice against their meat; a prejudice against thenj 
altogether ; and there was scarcely a district in which the wool waa 
lit fnr any but the coarsoi kind of fabrics. 



NORTH AMERICAN SHEEP. 5t 

ll might have been thought to be the policy of the mother-country 
to foster a pi-ejudice of tliis kind, in order that her colonies might be 
as dependent as possible upon h*^r ; and particularly that lu-r woollen 
manufactures might there find a ready sale : accordingly the Ameri 
can sheep, although somewhat different in various districts, consisted 
chiefly of a coarse kind of Leicester, and these were originally of 
British breed. The "American Husbandry," published in 1776, 
describes the New England wool as " long and coarse, and manu- 
factured into a rough kind of cloth, which is the only wear of 
the province, except the gentry, who wear the finer cloths of Great 
Britain. 

A writer in the Farmer's Journal, March, 1828, confirms this ac- 
count, and applies it, but somewhat unfairly and unjustly, to the 
American sheep at that late period. " In a very few instances in 
British America 1 found a small number of the Leicester breed, but 
no good ones; but on my crossing the United States, I found none 
but, ordinary, or what we should term very bad ones. The best 
American fleece I ever saw was not better than a middling Cam- 
bridge one, and in no place did I find any that would do for, or that 
could be applied to bombazine, or even fine stuff." 

Mr. Livingston, who wrote in 1811, describes some exceptions to 
this general character of the American flocks. The first is a very 
singular one, " The Otter sheep were first discovered on some 
island on the eastern coast, and have spread to the adjoining states. 
The sheep are long-bodied rather than large, and weigh about lolbs. 
a quarter. Their wool is of a medium fineness, and a medium 
length ; but that which particularly characterizes these sheep is the 
length of their bodies, and the shortness of their legs, and which 
ai'e also turned out in such a manner as to appear ricketv. They 
can not run or jump, and they even walk with some difficulty. Thev 
appear as if their legs had been broken, and set by some awkward 
surgeon. They can scarcely exist in a deep country, and they can 
not possibly be driven to a distant pasture or market." 

The Arlington long-woolled sheep, originally bred by General 
Washington, descended from a Persian ram and some ewes of the 
Bakewell flock. The sheep retain much of the form of the improved 
Leicester, and the staple of the wool is occasionally 14 inches lom^; 
it is soft, silky, and white, and calculated for hose, camblets, serges, 
and other fine woollen fabrics. 

A peculiar breed of sheep is found on Smith's island, on the 
eastern cape of Virginia, and supposed to be the indigenous race of 
that part of the country. The size and form and fattening quality 
of the animal are far superior to those of the Merino —the fleece is 
heavier, being from five to nine inches in length, and it is so fine, as 
to be adapted for every purpose to which the Spanish wool can be 
applied. This account is given on the authority of Mr. Custis, the 
proprietor of the island ; but further examination, although j)roving 
that the breed is valuable, both on account of its carcass and its wool, 
does not justify the high terms in which they have been frequent'.y 
SDoken of. 



r,Q >OUATT ON SHEEP. 

Since the pvoliibition of the exportation of British sheep has been 
removed, the finer Leicesters and other breeds have found their way 
across the Atlantic, and materially changed the character i*f some 
of the American flocks. The Merinoes have also reached the United 
States, and have been used in several of the northern provinces in 
improving some of the best American breeds. Mr. Livingston was 
very zealous in effecting this, and the system has been extending 
with decided advantage : it has reached even to the British colonies. 
Mr, M'Gregor calculates the number of sheep in Canada and the 
other northern transatlantic colonies to be 1,247,658 ; and a writer 
in theOnondago Journal says that " it would not be wide of the truth 
to put the Avhole number of sheep in the Union at thirteen millions, 
which, yielding an average 3lbs. of wool per head, will give a product 
of thirty-nine millions of pounds and constitute not an unimportant 
item in the estimate of national wealth." An increasing quantity 
of word begins now to be imported by the mother-country from her 
American colonies, and from the United States. In 1833 it amount- 
ed to 335,6491bs. ; but on the other hand the exports of woollen 
manufactures from England to those countries amounted to nearly 
-hree millions of pounds sterling. 



CHAPTER VII. 



Thfc Anatomy, Diseases, and General Management, of the Sheep. — Tlie Skeleton of the 
Sheep. — Form of the Head. — Skull of a Polled Sheep. — Importance of the Size of the 
Head. — Swelled Head. — The Brain. — The Bot in the Sinuses of the Head — Diseases 
of the Brain and Head.-^The Cure. 

It will be necessary to understand something of the anatomy and 
general organization of the sheep, in order to arrive at the most 
profitable way of managing him, and of preventing or curing the 
various diseases to which he is subject. 

First, we pi'esent on the opposite page a skelftton, which is of a 
sheep of the New Leicester breed. 

THE FORM OF THE HEAD. 

In order to afford space for the attachment or origin of the horns, 
the frontal-bones p;-oject both forward and laterally, which gives the 
peculiar breadth of forehead and prominence of the eye to the sheep. 
This form of the upper part of the face is retained in breeds from 
which the horn has hnig ago disappea"3d. The breeds vvith'»- hora& 
are denominated polled slieep. 



SKELETON OP A SHEEP. 



57 




Skeleton of the Slieep. 



THE HEAD. 

1. The intermaxillary bone. 

8. The nasal bones. 

3. The upper jaw. 

4. The union of the nasal and upper jaw- 

bones. 

5. The union of the molar and lachrymal 

bones. 

6. The orbits of the eye. 

7. The frontal bone. 

9. The lower jaw. 

10. The incisor-teeth or nippers. 
■. 1. The molars or grindera 

THE TRUNK. 

I, 1. The ligament of the neck supporting 
the head. 

I, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. The seven vertebra;, or 
bones of the neck. 

1-13. The thirteen vertebrae, or bones of the 
back. 

1-6. The si.K vertebrae of the loins. 

7. The sacral bone. 

9. The bones of the tail, varjnng in different 
breeds from twelve to twenty one. 

9. The haunch and pelvis. 

1-8. The eight true ribs, with their carti- 
lages. 

•--3. The five false ribs, or those that are 
not attached to the breast-bone. 

H. The breast-bone. 



THE FORE-LEG. 

1. The .=capula. or shoulder blade. 

2. The humerus, bone of the arm, or lower 

part of the shoulder. 

3. The radius, or bone of the forearm. 

4. The ulna, or elbow. 

5. The knee, with its different bones. 

6. The metacarpal or shank bones — the 

larger bones of the leg. 

7. A rudiment of the smaller -metacar- 

pal. 

8. One of the sessamoid bones. 

9. The first two bones of the foot — the pas- 

terns. 
10. The proper bones of the foot. 

THE HIND-LEG. 

1. The thigh-bone. 

2. The stifle joint and its bone — the patel- 

la. 

3. The tibia, or bone of the upper part of 

the leg. 

4. The point of the hock. 

5. The other bones of the hock. 

6. The metatarsal bones, or bone of the 

hind leg. 

7. Rudiment of the small metatarsal. 

8. A sessamoid bone. 

9. The first two bones of the foot — the pai 

terns. 
10. The proper bone of tlie foot 



VOUATT ON SHEEP. 




THE SKULL OF A POLLED SHEEP. 

1. The occipital bone, depressed out of the react of danger. 

2. The parietal bones, the suture having disappeared, and bLm 
out of danger. 

3. The squamous portions of the temporal bone — the butlresa oJ 
the arch of the skull. 

4. The meatus auditorius, or bony opening into the ear. 
5 The frontal bone.s. 

6. The openings through which blood vessels pass to supply the 
forehead. 

7. The bony orbits of the eye. 

8. The zygomatic or molar bones. 
3. The lachrymal bones, very much developed. 

10. The bones of the nose. 

11. TJie upper jaw-bone. 

12. Tiie foramen, through which tlie nerves and bloodvessels pro- 
ceed to supply the lower part of tlie face. 

13. The nasal processes of the intermaxillary bones. 

14. The pelatine processes. 

15. The intermaxillary bone, supporting the cartilaginous pad, in- 
stead of containing teeth. 

The bones of the skull are thus disposed of in thfe sheep : The 
frontal bones occupy the whole of the bi-oad expanse on the top of 
the head, extending from eye to eye. (See fig. 5.) They are pro- 
lono-ed as far below the eye as above it, encroaching upon and ma- 
terially shortening the nasal bones (10, 10). Above, they reach to 
the parietal bones (fig. 2) ; but, before they arrive at this point, the 
head takes a sudden inclination downward, and a little of the poste- 
rior part of the frontal bones — that which is most concerned in cov- 
ering the brain — is out of the reach of danger. 

The concussion is tremendous when these animals rush against 
each other in good earnest ; but from the peculiar arched form and 
streno-th of the bones which come in contact here, and the depression 
of the greater part of the brain far below, serious mischief is seldom 
effected. The horn is occasionally broken ; the ribs, the limbs, may 
sometimes be fractured; at the rutting season the contest may end 
only with the death of one of the combatants ; but it is comparatively 
seldom that the skull is fatally injured. 

The luirietal bones of the sheep (fig. 2), although not elevat»#d to 
the summit of the arch, as in the horse, yet resume the function of 
which they are deprived in cattle. They constitute an important 
part of the posterior and slanting division of the skull, and have the 
same dense and firm structure \Nhich they possessed in the horse. 
At an early period of the life of the animal they are formed, as in 
the horse and cattle, of two distinct bones; but the suture between 
them soon disappears in the sheep, and they become one continuou? 
bony arch over the greater part of the brain. Considerable strength 
is necessary here in order to sustain or neutralize those violent con- 
cussions which may occasionally be propagated from the frontal bones 
above. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SIZE OF THE HEAD. 

The head of the sheep constitutes one of the principal points Dy 
which his quality and profitableness may be judged of. Compared 
with his general size, it should be sma)'. and, particularly, not wide 



SWELLED HEAD THE BRAIN. 59 

between the eyes : too great width of forehead is an in\aii able proof 
of inaptitude to fatten, at least externally. The sheep with a large 
head will be a favorite with the butcher, because in propoition to 
the slowness with which he gets into condition will be the accumu- 
lation of fat within, even if there was no natural tendency to produce 
tallow : in other words, there will be more profit to himself at the 
expense of the grazier and consumer. The head should be small, 
thin, and short. It is possible, yet not probable, that this may be car- 
ried to too great an extent ; but that head must be disproportionately 
small which can be considered as a proof of too great delicacy of 
constitution. There is considerable danger in lambing when the head 
of the sheep is large, for the lamb will generally possess the charac- 
teristic form of the sire. 

SWELLED HEAD, 

The sheep, browsing so close to the ground as it does, is sometimes 
subject to swelled head, from being stung by vipers, and occasionally 
by venomous insects. The wool should be cut off round the wound, 
which should then be well washed with warm water, and afterward 
plenty of olive-oil should be rubbed in, and small doses of hartshoi'n 
diluted with, water administered internally; half a scruple of the 
hartshoi-n in an ounce of water will be the proper dose, and should 
be administered every hour. 

THE BRAIN. 

Enclosed within the bones that have been described lies the brain 
It possesses the same form as in the horse and the ox, but is a little 
more prolonged in proportion to its size, and broader posteriorly 
tlian anteriorly. On looking attentively at it, it is perceived to be a 
little larger, in proportion to the size of the animal, than is the brain 
of the ox ; and, in point of fact, the brain of the ox is about one eight 
hundredth part of the weight of the animal, while the brain of the 
sheep is one seven hundred and fiftieth. This important organ 
is in the sheep, as in the horse and some other animals, com- 
posed of two substances, very different in appearance and structure 
— the one, from its situation on the outside of the brain, termed the 
cortical, or, from its reddish ashen color, the cincritious substance ; 
and the other, found more deeply within the brain, and termed, from 
its pulpy nature, the inednllary substance. 

These two substances, according to the opinion of the best physi- 
ologists, discharge two distinct functions : the cinerilious is connected 
with the mind — it possesses the faculty of receiving impressions from 
surrounding objects, and of generating or producing power ; the me- 
dullary substance conveys the external impression and the mandates 
of tne will ; — the one connected with intelligence and power, the other 
being little more than a -onductor. The proportion of the two sub- 
stances appears to be nearly the same in the sheep as in the ox, or, 
if there is any difference, the projections are bolder, and the layei 
of cineritious substance is proportionably deeper, in the sheep than 
Jn the ox. 



66 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

THE BOT IN THE SINUSES OF THE HEAD. 

Even in horned sheep the plates of the frontal bones are not so far 
separated from each other as in the ox, nor are the frontal sinuses so 
BXtensive, yet the sheep is subject to an excessive annoyance, from 
which the ox is comparatively exempt. There is a ^y o^ the dipfera 
order (flies with two wings, and behind them two globulnr bodies 
supported on slender pedicles, called, and propei'ly so, poisere), the 
SsTRUS ovis, or GADFLY of the sheep. It assumes its perfect winged 
form in some uncertain period from May to July, and then is an in- 
tolerable nuisance to the sheep, especially in woody countries, and 
in the neighborhood of copses. If only one appears, the whole flock 
is in the greatest agitation. They gather together, with their heads 
in the centre, and their muzzles buried in the sand, if they can find 
any, and are in continual motion, stamping with their feet, and snort- 
ing, in order to guard their noses against the assault of their puny 
enemy; then one of them, who is moi"e especially attacked, will burst 
from his companions, and gallop across the field, looking fearfully 
behind him at every step. 

The oestrus, impelled by powerful instinct, endeavors to deposita 
its eggs on the inner margin of the nose. By the warmth and the 
moisture of the part, they are almost immediately hatched, and the 
larvae or little maggots crawl up the nose, and find their way to the 
residence which nature designed for them. In the act of passing 
up the nose they seem to give great annoyance ; for the sheep gallop 
furiously hither and thither, and seem almost mad. 

Having traced their circuitous course through an aperture under 
the turbinated bone into the maxillary sinus, they sometimes lodge 
there ; others proceed thence into the frontal sinus, and some reach 
the cavity of the bone of the horn. They are found occasionally in 
every cavity with which that of the nose communicates. When it has 
arrived at, or selected, its place of residence, the Ir^rva fixes itself on 
the membrane of the sinus by means of two tentacula or hooks, 
which grow from the side of the mouth ; and there it remains, feed- 
ing on the mucus secreted by this membrane, from June or July to 
May or June. 

The larva is composed of eleven rings, which form a species of 
cone a little flattened. It is white when half, though darker at its 
full size, and has two small brown patches by the side of each other 
at its tail ; these are the posterior stigmata, which are sometimes 
3rect, but generally enclosed within the last ring as in a purse. Be- 
low, and in the same ring, is the anus, concealed by some fleshy 
folds. On either side is a fleshy appendage, the use of which is not 
ki>' )wn. 

It is larger than the bot of the horse, but smaller than that which 
is sometimes found in the warbles on the backs of cattle. The head 
is armed with two crotchets ; they are strongs and rf a brown color, 
and have the appearance of little horns. By means of them the bot 
attaches itself to the membrane of the cavity in which it is contained^ 

At some time between the middle of April and the end jf July 



THE 30T IN THE SINUSES OF THE HEAD. 61 

these larvas have attained their full growth, and seek to escape From 
their prison. They give great annoyance to the sheep vvliile this 
is taking place, who again are continurflly stamping ^\ith thoir feet, 
and violently sneezing. It is rarely that the exit of the grub from 
the noje is seen, owing to the impatience of the sheep, and his 
tossing of the head and continual sneezing. They who wcnild make 
themselves acquainted with the appearance of the hot must purchase 
Bome sheep's heads at this time of the year, and saw them open. 
A great many will be found without any bots ; a great many others 
will have one bot, some will have tv/o, and a few will have three 
It is not often that that number is exceeded ; although, in a few in- 
stances, the head of the sheep has contained nearly a dozen of tliem. 

When the worms are caught in the act of expulsion from the nose, 
or are taken in their perfect state from the cavities of a newly-killed 
sheep, they are very restless, and are continually marching, or rather 
dragging themselves rapidly along. When placed upon the hand, 
they find their way to the division of the fingers, and, using the 
points of their crotchets, they endeavor to force them apart. They 
soon get to the bottom of the loose earth or powder in the usual 
insect box ; and if the}^ are placed on the ground, and the soil is tol- 
erably light, they very speedily bury themselves in it, and are lost. 
Those, however, that are not arrived at maturity, will quickly perish 
for want of the nutriment from which they were too soon taken. 
Those that survive in order to undergo their pupa state, form to 
themselves no artificial covering, but their skin gradually contracts 
and hardens around them. In twenty-four hours it begins to resist 
the pressuie f the finger, and at the expiration of the second day 
the larva has become a perfect chrysalis. It is smaller than in its 
first stage of existence, but retains much of the same appearance, 
except that it has become of a more uniform brown-black color. 

According as the season is more or less favorable, or in proportion 
to the warmth of the bed or the box in which the insect has taken 
refuge, the time of the pupa stage of existence is lengthened or 
shortened. M. Valisnieri states that a worm which he took on July 
the 5th underwent its final change at the expiration of foity days ; 
but sixty-three days passed before one that he found in April became 
a perfect fly. Notwithstanding the hardness of the chrysalis, they 
seemed to escape from their prison with perfect ease. A small part 
of the head of the pupa becomes detached, and the fly creeps out. 

The fly is considerably smaller than the size of the larva would in- 
dicate. Its head and corslet, taken together, are as long as the body 
and that is composed of five, rings, tiger-colored on the back, with 
some srrall points, and larger patches of a deep brown color. The 
belly is of nearly the same color, but has only one large circular spot 
on the centre of each of the rings. The length of the wings is 
nearly equal to that of the body, which they almost entirely cover 
Tht^y are prettily striped and marked. The poisers are concealed 
oy the small and shelly portion of the wings. 

The head of the fly is singularly formed. It is large in proj>or- 
tion to the general bulk of the insect. The eyes have the appea; ance 



52 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

of net-work, and are of a deep and changeable green color. They 
occupy less space upon the head tliau those of most other flies. Ii» 
the small space between them are placed three other minute eyes, in 
the form of a triangle. They may be discovered in a tolerable light, 
or by a lens of small power. The rest of the head is yellow and 
Beeminf'lv hollow. It appears as if it were perforated by a great 
number of small holes, like a piece of sponge, and at the bottom of each 
of these cavities a small black spot ajipears. On the anterior and un 
der part of the head are two short anreurice with large bulbous bases. 
There are very few hairs on the head, but many on the body, sides, 
and leers. A little beneath, and toward the throat, are three little 
brown spots or projections, in the form of a triangle. The fly has 
neither proboscis nor teeth, and its mouth, if it has one, is between 
these tubercles, and immediately behind the superior one ; but it has 
never been distinctly seen, and it is usual for naturalists to describe 
this fly as not taking any nourishment during its last and perfect 
state, but living merely for one purpose, the propagation of its spe- 
cies. ' It is, however, a negative account which must after all be 
given — the fly has never been seen to eat. M. Valisnieri has repeat- 
edly offered these insects sugar and syrup, but they could not be 
induced to touch it, although he kept one of them more than two 
months. 

The oestrus ovis is not the only fly which is believed to live for 
one important purpose alone. The same account is given of some 
species of butterflies, the male of which dies as soon as the female is 
impregnated; but she lingers on until she has found a proper recep- 
tacle for her ova, when she too expires, nature having denied to both 
of them the oro-ans for the prehension and the digestion of their food. 
The flies, both male and female, seem to be inert and sleepy be- 
ino-s : they will remain motionless on the side of the box for many 
a successive day. After the different sexes have been brought 
too-ether, as it were by chance, the male resumes his motionless 
position for an uncertain time : generally but for a few hours — 
occasionally for some days — and then he dies; sometimes, how- 
ever, having impregnated a second or a third female. The female 
likewise continues to exhibit the same picture of still life until her 
ova are ready to be produced. The flies are to be seen at these 
periods on the rails and walls in the neighborhood of some flock of 
sheep, and the shepherd, and the shepherd's boy, should be taught 
to distinguish and destroy them. 

Both French and English writers give a fearful account of the 
mischief which the larva effects in its dark abode. Gasparin 
speaks of frequent convulsions, giddiness, and half unconsciousness; 
distino-uished from turnsick by the violent sneezing with which it is 
accompanied. When the larva is creeping to its destined abode, 
and when, havino" reached its mature state, it is restless in its habita- 
tion, and seeking a way to escape, the sheep undoubtedly suffers 
consideraible annoyance, which it manifests by stamping and sneez- 
ino-; but otherwise, during the whole of the protracted abode of the 
Insect in the sinuses of the head, there is no symptom by which its 



TURNSICK OR HYDATID ON THE BRAIlt. 63 

existence, miicla less the mischief which it is supposed to effect, can 
be ascertained. It may be supposed that when parasites like these 
find their way to cavities or parts of the frame which nature never 
destined for their habitation, the animal who unwillingly affords them 
shelter may be much inconvenienced, and serious disease may be 
set up ; but it is incompatible with that wisdom and goodness that 
are more and more evident in proportion as the phenomena of nature 
are closely examined, that the destined residence of the oestrus ovis 
should be productive of continued inconvenience or disease. There 
are no indications of cerebral irritation in the sheep which may not 
be fairly traced to other causes ; and the permanent comfort and 
health, much less the life, of the sheep, would not be sacrificed to 
so insignificant a being. 

There are two ways in which it may be imagined that these bots 
are serviceable rather than injurious to the sheep; and it is seldom 
that nature has recourse to expedients like those which have been 
described, except the benefit of both the parties concerned is pro- 
moted. Sheep are notoriously liable to determinations of blood to 
the head, and to inflammation of the brain. When a medical man 
suspects or is assured of this inflammatory disease in his patient, he 
endeavors to set up some counter-irritation, and in a neighboring 
part ; and he thus diminishes or neutralizes, or entirely gets rid of 
the evil which he feared. Nature may possibly have placed this 
source of irritation, the presence, and sucking, and occasional mo- 
tions of the bot, in the frontal sinuses, or at the root of the horns, in 
order to prevent or to diminish the tendency to cerebral disease, to 
which the sheep would otherwise be subject. This is Mr. Clark's 
suggestion. 

TURNSICK OR HYDATID ON THE BRAIN 

Many strange terms, as the gig-goggles-turn, turnsick, sturdy, 
giddy, dunt, &c., are given to this disease. 

After a severe winter, and a cold and wet spring, many of the 
yearling lambs, and particularly those that are weakly, exhibit very 
peculiar symptoms of disease. This usually appears during the 
first year of the animal's life, and when he is about or under six 
months old. It is said to be occasionally congenital, and even the 
foetus in the womb has been affected by it. It is far less frequent 
during the second year than the first, and after that period the sheep 
seem to have acquired an immunity against the attack of the hydatid. 

The symptoms are as follows : The sheep cease to gambol with 
their companions — they are dull — they scarcely graze — they rumi- 
nate in the most languid and listless manner — they separate them- 
selves from the rest of the flock — they walk in a peculiar stagger- 
ing, vacillating way — they seem at times to be unconscious where 
they are, or they seek some ditch or brook, and stand poring over 
the ruflled or flcnving water; they stand there until they appear to 
be c(<mpletely giddy, and suddenly tumble in. In the midst of their 
grazing they stop all at once, look wildly around, aa if they were 
frightened Uy some imaginary object, and start away and gallop ai 



64 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

fall speed over the field. They lose fles!; ; the countenaiK'O becomes 
haggard ; the eye wanders, and assumes a singular blue color. This 
last circumstance, although not observed so carefully as it ought to 
be, is perfectly characteristic of the disease; and a clever shepherd 
would select every sturdied sheep from the flock, guided simply bj 
the color of their eyes. 

This evident cerebral affection increases ; the animal begins to 
carry his head on one side, and almost always on the same side. It 
is with difficulty that he can straighten his neck in order to graze, 
and there is a peculiar undecided motion in the act of grazing. The 
fits of wandering become more frequent ; he is oftener frightened 
without apparent cause ; he takes an increasing pleasure in poi'ing 
over the riopling brook ; there is something in the playing of the 
light on the water, or in the murmuring sound, which has a lulling 
inflnence over him, and he oftener forgets himself, and perhaps falls 
in and is lost. 

By-and-by the sturdied sheep commences a rotatory motion, even 
while grazing, and always in one way, and with the head turned on 
the same side. This occurring, he almost ceases to eat or to rumi- 
nate, partly because the disease, from its debilitating character, de- 
stroys the appetite altogether; and also because he can not restrain 
those circular motions, during which it is almost impossible to graze : 
but principally because he is rapidly becoming blind. He begins to 
be inattentive to surrounding objects, and he moves among them as 
if he were unconscious of their existence. The habit of turning 
round increases : he contitmcs to form these concentric circles for an 
hour at a time, or until he falls; and then he scrambles up again, 
and commences the same strange motion. At length he dies, ema- 
ciated and exhausted ; or his death is hastened by his falling down 
some dangerous declivity, or his being unable to extricate himself 
from the brook or the ditch. 

Turnsick can scarcely be confounded with inflammation of the 
brain, when the anxious, yet half-vacant countenance, the absence of 
furious delirium and of all desire to do mischief, are regarded. If 
the sheep is galloping wildly about, it is evidently to avoid some 
imao-inary evil, and not to encounter a supposed foe. 

It may be distinguished from rabies by nearly the same symptoms, 
and particularly by the absence of all desire to injure its companions. 

It can scarcely be confounded with apoplexy or inflammatory 
fever, for they usually attack the flower of the flock, while the 
comparatively debilitated sheep is the prey of the hydatid. The 
victim of these diseases can scarcely be induced to move; the stur- 
died sheep is wandering about or scampering everywhere, without 
appai-ent motive or object. The progress of apoplexy and inflam- 
matory fever is rapid, and a few hours decide the fate of the patient ; 
the sturdied sheep will linger on during several successive weeks. 
The one dies in full condition — the other wastes away to a mere 
skeleton. 

On examining the sheep after death, a hydatid, or many hydatids, 
are found between the pia-mater and the brain, or imbedded m the 



TURNSICK OR in DATID .).V TUF. BTiXm. 65 

wrcbral substance. The existence of these hydatids has been doubt- 
ed in the iniman brain. There is, however, no doubt about the mat- 
ter here ; they are true hydatids, but of a very singnilar structure, 
and such as have not yet been observed in the human being. 

They belong to the Ccenurus, or the hydatis polvcephalus cer- 
EBRALis, the many -headed hyd^atid of the brain. Instead of a single 
head there are a great number spread over the surface of the para- 
site, and opening into the same general cavity. When the sac is 
distended they appear only as opaque spots upon it ; but a lens of 
no gitrac power will give a distinct view of their heads, or rather 
necks, with the tentacula or barbs projecting from the apparent open- 
ing or mouth, which forms the extremity of them. These hydatids 
vary in size from that of a pigeon's to a hen's gq\[,. 

The wall of the cyst appears to be composed of two or three lay- 
ers, tiie centre one of which seems to possess a muscular character. 
On examiiiin.g them with lenses of a high magnifying power, " their 
coats resemble paper mac?,? upon a wire-frame, the muscubir fibres 
so plainly and regularly interlacing each other.' 

When the hydatid is fiist extracted and placed in warm water, it 
has an evident vibratory motion ; and if then p&nctured, the con- 
tained fluid will be ejected to a considerable distance, in consequence 
of the powerful contraction of the muscular coat. The inner mem- 
brane is cleai'ly marked with rugae, which have considerable resem- 
blance to the villous membranes of the stomachs of many animals. 

This cyst or bladder contains a fluid, sometimes as pellucid as 
water. If the internal membrane is then examined, and particu- 
larly with a lens, a countless multitude cjf little bodies, I'esembling 
eggs, and disposed in regular lines, will be found to adhere tc> it by 
filmy paiticles ; but the fluid will not contain any organized body. 
At other times the water within the cyst will be turbid, and will con- 
tain innumerable portions of apparently fibrous matter, but which, 
submitted to the power of a microscope, are resolved into so inany 
mirmte worms. Jf the fluid is very turbid, that is caused by the 
immense quantity of worms, and the eggs will all have disappeared; 
when the turbidity is not so great, many of the eggs will still be ob- 
served adhering to the cyst. 

These worms are about half a line in length. The head is in thci 
form of a tetragon, with a circle of rays or tentacula at its summit, 
and a mouth on each of the four sides of the head. The neck is 
short, and the body is covered with rings or wrinkles. They appear 
to swim with great velocity, and to be possessed of much activity. 
They have also the peculiar property of issuing at pleasure from and 
returning to the cyst which they inhabit. If the cyst is removed 
whole from the brain, hundreds of them may be forced through the 
numerous heads of the hydatid by the slightest pressure ; and h* 
othei- times, when the cyst is examined, numbers of them will he? 
found in or protruding from its various necks 

It is not uncommon for a very great number of small hydatids t-.i 
be found floating in a larger one, seemingly the parent of the colony 
The writer of this treatise was examining a monkey that had died ol 

5 



56 ynUATT ?N SHEEP. 

some obscure disease. Between the peritoneum and the abdamiiial 
wall, he found a hydatid larger than the egg of a goose. He eii~ 
doavored to extract it whole, but it broke, and its contents flowed 
over the table. They consisted of an immense number of hydatids. 
He mentally divided the surface of the table into a certain inimber 
of compartments, and on counting the number of globules which 
one of them contained, he found that the whole would consist of 
considerably more than ten thousand. In addition to these he fnind 
an almost countless number of granules or vesicles on the rugous 
lining sui'face of the hydatid, and which were probably the germs of 
future hydatids. But there are few or no instances of this jn-oduc- 
tion of worms and such a provision in the parent for their habitation 
and protection. It somewhat resembles the pouch of the kangaroo 
.and the opossum, or the stomach of the viper. 

Are these worms hydatids in one of the forms they assume, or are 
^they parasites, which take possession of the cyst appointed by nature 
.for their lesidence ? What object- are they accomplishing in this 
their strange abode ] The ovum, or germ, may be floating in the 
atmosphere, or received with the food, and, like some other entozoa, 
and more particularly the worm in the eye of the horse and the ox, 
smay thread the various blood-vessels, whether of a larger size, or 
the minutest capillaires, until it arrives at its destined nidus or resi- 
• dence — the brain of a weakly sheep. Are there certain conditions 
of the brain, under which these parasites may be spontaneously pro- 
educed ? If so, what are the laws and conditions of these produc- 
tions ] or why should their appearance be confined to the very youth 
of the animal and a state of general debility, if not disease ? These 
.are mysteries which future observers, perhaps, may be enabled to 
unravel. 

If there is only one hydatid, and it is suffered to attain its full 
growth, or, in other words, if the disease is permitted to take its 
course until it has destroyed the sheep, it will probably be of very con- 
siderable sizCj and a great portion of the brain will be absorbed. Mr. 
.Stephens related the following history of a case at one of tlie meet- 
ings of the London Medical Society. A sheep with sturdy or turn- 
sick was brought to him. He took out a portion of the skull with a 
trephine, and on cutting through the dura-mater, a very large hydatid 
partially protruded. He attemjjted to extract it whole, but it broke. 
He afterward extracted the cyst, and on looking into the opening 
made with the trephine, he found the interior to present a large 
empty cavity. The brain appeared to be completely gone. He let 
down a wax-light through the opening into the cavity of the skull, 
when it appeared that nearly the whole of the brain was wanting. 
The hole was closed, and the sheep got up and fed, but in the morn- 
ing of the fourth day it became convulsed and died. Upon opening 
the head a little only of the brain at its base was found, and some 
remains at the sides, forming an imperfect shell of brain, and there 
were several hydatids remaining. 

If there is only one parasite inhabiting the brain of a sturdied 
sheep, its situation is very uncertain. It is mostly found beneath 



TURNSICK OR HYDATID ON THE BRAIN. 67 

the --ia-mater, lying upon the brain, and in or upon the scissure be- 
tween the two hemispheres. If it is within the brain, it is generally 
in one of the ventricles, but .occasionally in the substance of the 
brain; and, in a few instances, in that of the cerebellum. 

These hydatids are probably exceedingly small when first deposit- 
ed in the brain, and they produce little disturbance there. No 
altered function will tell of their presence, except that the sheep will 
sometimes be dull, and will eat lazily, and without appetite, or will 
stop in the middle of his eating, and seem confused and lost. When, 
however, they have attained a considerable bulk, and press upon the 
neighboring vessels, or the origins of the celebral nerves, their pres- 
ence can scarcely be mistaken ; and an accurate knowledge of the 
anatomy of the brain, and careful observation of the patient, will 
enable the practitioner to guess at the situation of the parasite. If 
the head is held constantly on one side, and the concentric circles 
are always formed in that direction, the cyst will be found on the 
depressed side, and piobalily in the lateral ventricle. If the head is 
sometimes held on one side, and sometimes on the other, and the 
circles are occasionally in one direction, an.d then in a contrary one, 
there is a hydatid on each side of the head, and probably in the 
ventricles. If the sheep marches straight forward with his head de- 
pressed, running against everything in his way, and continually fall- 
ing, it is likely that the parasite occupies the middle scissure of the 
brain, and is attached to the corpus callosum. In a few cases the 
muzzle will be elevated and the head thrown back, the animal still 
pursuing its straightforward course, except that there will be a reel- 
ing motion, sometimes to the right, and sometimes to the left, like a 
boat at sea; the intruder then nihabits the cerebellum or the fourth 
ventricle. 

Possibly, however, there are more cysts than one, and these oc- 
cupy very different situations in the brain. In that valuable period- 
ical just refen-ed to, an account is given of two sturdied sheep, iii 
the brain of each of which four vesicles were found. In one of them 
the principal hydatid occupied the right ventricle, and smaller ones 
were found between the hemispheres, and in the fourth ventricle and 
the ethmoidal cell, or digital cavity. In the other, the principal one 
was found in the digital cavity ; and the others in the right side of 
the fossa sylvii, under the pia-mater, on the left lobe of the brain and 
in the cerebellum. In these cases the indications during life would 
be obscure, and no operation would be of service. 

This is a singular disease ; but it is a sadly prevalent and fatal 
one in wet and moorish districts ; yet it will be seen by-and-by that 
this is the mildest of the scourges which the shet^pmaster brings upon 
his flock by the neglect of draining. It is scarcely known in airy 
and upland pasture, or even in the lower grounds that have been 
thoroughly drained. 

It is much more fatal in France than in Great liiitain, on apcount 
of the general neglect of the sheep, and the almost total omissioa 
of this indispensable operation in well-conducted sheep-husbandry. 
Perhaps also much may be attributed to the neglect of the young 



<*8 VOUATT ON SHEEP. 

febeep, and not a little to hereditary disposition. It is supposed thai 
nearly a million of sliee^i are destroyed in France every year by this 
pest of the ovine race. 

The means of cure are exceedingly limited. They are confined 
to the removal or destruction of the vesicle. Medicine is altogether 
out of the question here. Neither the warm bath, nor " the mer- 
curial friction," nor "the repeated dose of physic," recommended 
l>v various writers, can have the slightest effect. Veterinary sur- 
geons have hitherto been little employed in the treatment of turnsick, 
because the diseases of sheep have until lately formed no part of 
the education of the veterinary pupil, and even at the present hour 
are scarcely heard of at the National Veterinary school. This is a 
lamentable iind disgraceful state of things ; and the agriculturist de- 
serves all the inconvenience and loss which he experiences, if he 
permits it longer to continue. 

The contrivances to remove or destroy the cyst that have hitherto 
been resorted to, proceed chiefly from the ingenuity or the brutality 
of the sheepmaster or the shepherd. Mr. Parkinson says that his ■ 
father's remedy was to cut off the ears of the sturdied sheep, and 
that rather by way of bleeding than with aqy other intention ; and 
that a sheep now and then, perhaps one in twenty, was thus cured. 
" It happened one day," he proceeds, " that when I was with my 
father's shepherd, I observed one of the half-year-olds, although not 
entirely leaving the flock, yet having the appearance of being affect- 
ed with the disease. The shej^herd was an extraordinary good run- 
ner; but this sheep gave him a severe chase, and he was some time' 
in catching it, which put him in a passion, and happening to take it 
by the ears, he twirled it round several times before I got to him ; 
I then cut off its ears as near to the head as I could with safety, it 
being our usual practice to cut them off pretty close ; but by swing- 
ing it round the shephei'd had probably pulled the ears out of the 
socket. The result was, that in about two days the sheep had re- 
joined the flock. Since that recurrence, I have made it a rule con- 
stantly to pull the ears very hard for some time before I cut them 
off, and this proceedinor has seldom failed of effectincr a cure." 

It is easy to imagine that in the dreadful struggle which must ensue 
in wringing the ears so " very hard," and then cutting them off, the 
hydatid would probably be ruptured and destroyed. 

Others effect the same object in as brutal a way. They set the 
dog on the poor sheep, to hunt and worry it without mercy; and the 
chase is so contrived, that, if possible, the animal shall tumble down 
some stone-pit, or considerable declivity. In tlie shock of the fall 
the hydatid is burst, and, now and then, the neck of the sheep is 
broken too. 

Several cases are gravely related in confirmation of this practice. 
A sturdied sheep was fri-ghtened by a pack of hounds, that came 
into the field in which it was grazing. It leaped over a high hedge, 
fell violently on the other side, and from that moment was well. 
Another was standing on the edge of a precipice — he, too, was 
frightened, and fell to the bottom, and was ever afterward free from 



TURNSICK »R HYDATID OX THE BRAIN. 69 

the disease. AW these modes of proceeding are far too brutal and 
barbarous. 

The Ettrick shepherd adopted a very ingenions operation. He 
3hall speak for himself: " Wh*^n I was a youth, I was engaged foi 
many years in herding a large parcel of lambs, whose bleating 
brought all the sturdies in the neighborhood to them, and with whom 
I was everlastingly plagued; but as I was frequently knitting stock- 
ings, I fell upon the following plan : 1 caught every sturdied sheep 
that I could lay my hands upon, and probed him up the nostrils te 
the very brain with one of tny wire'^. 1 beheld, with no small degree 
of pleasure that I cured many a sheep by this operation." 

Mr. Hogg candidly owns that the sheep which die in consequence 
of wiring are " in the greatest agonies, and often groan most pit- 
eously." He also acknowledges, that in a few instances he has seen 
the sheep drop like a ciea.tnre felled, and expire in the course of 
two minutes ; and it is well known that, on dissection, the brain is 
found inflamed, and the course of the wire is as evident as anything 
can be, presenting an appearance as if a probe as large as a quill 
had passed through the brain. 

In addition to all this, there are sometimes two or three of these 
hydatids in the same brain, and occupying veiy different situations 
in it, so that the wire can not possibly reach them all. It proba- 
bly, therefore, will be the fate of this once celebrated operation, and 
which the name of the Ettrick Shepherd for a while rendered popu- 
lar, to fall into comparative disuse and distrust. 

The effect of pressure has not always been sufficiently understood 
in veterinary or human practice. The slight but constant pressure 
of this bladder is not only sufficient to cause a portion of the brain 
to be absorbed, in order to make room for the growth of the hydatid, 
but even the bony substance of the loof of the ci'anium disappears ; 
and therefore, in process of time, a soft yielding spot, somewhat 
variable in its situation, but generally a little anterior to the root of 
the horn, or where the horn would have been, or, in a slight degree, 
more toward the centre of the skull, marks the residence of this 
parasite. i\nother kind of operation can now be attemjjted in order 
to get rid of this formidable being. 

A square is drawn, in the mind of the operator, upon this softened 
part, one side of it being equal to the diameter of the trephine which 
he is about to use. Two incisions are made, diagonally, from cor 
ner to corner ot this' square, and the four flaps thus formed are dis- 
sected from the parts below and turned back. If any portion of 
bone remains, it is then removed by the trephine ; or if the bone is 
quite gone, two other incisiijns are cautiously made with the knife, 
in the same direction as before, through the pericranium and the 
membranes of the brain; and when these flaps also are turned back, 
the hydatid will generally be visible underneath. It will be a mat- 
ter of some importance and interest to extract the hydatid whole; 
but this will not often be practicable. Every portion of it, however, 
nnd of tlie fluid wliicn it «>onrained, must be carefully removed; and 
Uien the xnernbiai.t-s tK>j»^ ,'».t; intejjument must be restored to their 



70 rOUATT ON' SHEET. 

situation, and a soft pletl^et, or, what is better, i n adhesive piaster, 
must be put over the whole. 

Some operators, afraid of the large opening into the craniun: 
caused by the trephine, have contented themselves with puncturing 
the cyst at the spot at which the skull is softened. But to this 
operation, as also to that of the trephine, there are serious objections. 
Both operations are dangerous to the sheep, and uncertain in their 
results. Besides, they are necessarily delayed until the later stages 
of the disease, when it may have become incurable. 

There is still another question to be taken into consideration. 
Supposing that the hydatid has been destroyed, and a seeming cure 
has been effected by either operation, is there any certainty that the 
evil is permanently removed 1 No. The most successful cases 
must be regarded with much suspicion. No sooner has one hydatid 
been removed, than another will, too often, begin to develop itself 
Huzard has counted no less than thiity distinct cysts in the brain of 
a lamb; therefore, the operation may have to be repeated almost 
without end, and after all the animal will perish. Six or nine months 
may pass, and th*^ animal may not be safe. As for medicine, it is 
altogether out of the question : no drug has power to reach the 
hydatids and destroy them in their place of concealment. Consider- 
ing, however, the cause of the disease, and the almost invariably im- 
poverished state of the animal, he should be removed, immediately 
after the operation, to a more wholesome pasture, and particularly 3 
dry and upland one. 

What then is the duty of the farmer 1 Why, to fatten the lamb 
that has been operated upon, and to sell him as speedily as he can ; 
for it appears that, in too great a portion of cases, three months will 
scarcely pass ere the disease will return. What shall he do with 
the sturdied sheep that has net been operated upon 1 Send him 
immediately to the butcher, in v.'hatever condition he may be. The 
chances are that he wilT eventually die, and die worthless — a mere 
skeleton ; at present he will probably fetch some price, and the 
wholesomeness of the flesh has not been in the slightest degree im- 
paired by this disease in its earlier stages. What shall he do with 
regard to his flock generally 1 Take more care of them — fatten 
them as quickly as he can, and slaughter those that become affected 
ihe very moment the disease is ascertained. Is there anything more 
that he can do 1 Yes ! He should take better care of the ewes and 
the lambs in the early part of the spring. There is no necessity for 
him to adopt a system of nursing which w'ould render his flock una- 
ble to endure the sudden changes of the English climate : but thero 
is a recklessness about many sheep-masters with regard to the 
mother and the offspring, at yeaning time, which can not be too 
trongly reprobated, and for which they severely and justly suffer. 
More attention might likewise he paid to the pasturage on which 
the sheep are turned. It should be more suitable to their early age, 
somewhat better sheltered, and, where it is required, more carefully 
drained. The disease is the consequence of debility — and that d«- 
l)ility is caused by the inexcusable neglect of the owner of thu 



.VATER I\ THE HEAD. 7] 

shaop. It is the offspring of cold ami wet and hunger, and nature 
lierself points out the cure ; for when the winter and the early months 
of spring have passed, the disease almost disappears. 

M. Giron de Buzaseinques, in an essay on turnsick, read before 
the Royal and Central Societies of Agriculture, in 1824, thus ex- 
presses himself: "1 have put into practice my mode of prevention. 
I have fed my flock better, and given them more exercise. I have 
driven them on the mountains of Aveyron, where the salubrity of 
the air and the diversity of the herbage invite them to stray about, 
and to cull the sweetest food. I have placed salt within their reach : 
and by such regimen I have strengthened my sheep ; and the conse- 
quence has been, that I have had less turnsick among them. The 
malady is on its gradual decline, and I reckon, by perseveiance, to 
get completely rid of it." 

WATER IN THE HEAD. 

There is occasionally, and even more frequently in the lamb than 
in the calf, an effusion of serous fluid within the cranial cavity. It 
is not confined within a cyst — it is not a portion or part of a livii.g 
animal, as in the disease just treated of — but it accumulates between 
the two investing membranes of the brain — the ^-^m ??^a^c/• and th^ 
arachnoid coat ; or it is found within the latter; or, and moie fre 
quently, it occupies and distends the ventricles of the brain. 

It is sometimes congenital : it attacks the lamb while in its foetal 
state. The bones being then comparatively soft, and the sutures not 
closed, the head is distorted and enlarged, and delivery is rendered 
difficult, if not impossible, with safety to both the mother and the 
lamb. In such case, before the mother is too much exhausted or 
injured by rude attempts to deliver her, it will be advisable to per- 
forate the head of the fcetus, and evacuate the fluid — an operation 
which is inevitably fatal to the young one, but insures the life of the 
ewe. 

The cause of this congenital hydrocephalus, or water in the head, 
is unknown ; the existence of it can at no time be detected previous 
to parturition, much less can the period of its commencement be 
ascertained. It may, however, without much danger of error, be 
traced to weakness of constitution in one or both of the parents, or 
to neglect and starvation during the period of utero-gestation. If one 
or two cases of this disease in the lamb occur, the farmer wili do 
well seriously to review his whole system of management ; at all 
events, he should never again breed from the same ewe, for there 
are few diseases in which hereditary predisposition is so evident as in 
this. If two or three cases occur in the flock, and the general man- 
agement is good, and the ewes apparently healthy, the ram may be 
Busj ectcd, and should be dismissed. 

Young lambs oftener die of water in the head than the shepherd 
or the sheepmaster suspects. How often, a very short time after 
birth — the appetite sometimes failing, but more frequently becoming 
almost voracious — the bowels sometimes relaxed, but oftener consli- 
piited — does* the lamb become dul' and disinclined to move — stag 



72 YOUATl ON SHEEP. 

gering a .ittle as he walks — presenting a greater or le^s degree of 
stupidity, either in tlie expression of the countenance or his mode of 
action, or both — pining away almost to a skeleton — and dying, occa- 
sionally, before the expiration of the first month, and rarely surviving 
llie second. The disease is described by no writer, but it is familiar 
enough to the sheep-owner. These are generally cases of water in 
the head : the skull is a little enlarged — the bones of it thin, or 
sometimes strangely thickened — the ventricles filled with water — the 
walls of them diminished in thickness, or having become almost mem- 
branous. Under the pressure of this unnatural quantity of fluid, the 
powers of the mind and of the body have gradually sunk. Such a 
disease must generally be incurable ; but in a few cases a successful 
struggle might be made against it. The principal dependence would 
be placed on purgatives and tonics combined — the Epsom salts with 
ginger and gentian, and small doses of mercurial medicine — the blue 
pill — in doses of four or five grains, being sufficiently manageable, 
and, at the same time, the safest and most eflficacious preparation. 
Plenty of good milk should be allowed from a foster-mother, as well 
as from the real one, with exercise and air, and good food, according tc 
the convenience of the owner. If no other advantage were gained 
from a knowledge of the true nature of this disease, the farmer would 
at least be tau2;ht that there was somethins* wrona: in the breed or 
the management, or the situation, and the proper remedy might pos- 
sibly suggest itself. 

ABSCESS IN THE BRAIN. 

This disease is mentioned, because one case, and one only, h-as 
come under the notice of the author. In sawing through many 
heads, in order to obtain the larvae of the oestrus ovis in different 
stages of maturity, he found an abscess in the centre of the right 
hemisphere, containing more than an ounce of dirty-white purulent 
matter, resembling the pus found in other jjarts, but of almost intol- 
erable foetor. The substance around was softened, and of nearly the 
same color. It seemed as if the abscess was in a state of active 
enlargement. He immediately carried the head to the man at 
whose shop it was bought, with the hope that he might be able to 
trace it to the butcher; but so many passing through the hands of 
this person, he did not recognise it. It may be safely taken for 
granted that the sheep was in the ordinary condition of those that 
are slaughtered for the market; and the case is an illustration of the 
extent to which these processes may be carried without interfering 
with general health. 

APOPLEXY. 

This is a very frequent and fatal species of pressure on the biain. 
It is even more prevalent in the sheep than the ox. The forcing 
system of feeding is carried to a greater extent, if possible, in the 
sheep than in cattle ; and there is this peculiar danger — that, while 
the comparatively thin hair of the ox allows of a considerable degree 
of cutaneous perspiration, the woolly coat of the sheep, and the 
greasy yolky matter with which he is surrounded, materially dimio- 



APOPLEXY. 75 

isn, or almost entirely prevent, the siipei'abuntlant fluid fi-oni eaca- 
ping-. The sheep is therefore naturally a more plethoric animal 
than the ox, and more liable to all the diseases connected with redun- 
dance of l)lood, and to apoplexy among the rest. 

Let it be supposed that a flock of sheep, apparently in perfect 
health, are grazing on a pasture somev/hat too luxuriant. They have 
been lately put upon it; tliey have perhaps been driven a little dis- 
tance to it, and tlie weather is hot; or let it be supposed that the 
pasture is good and the sheep in high condition. Suddenly one of 
them stands still — he seems to be fixed to the spot; or, if he attempt 
to move, his hind legs fail him — the pupils are dilated and motion- 
less — the eyes are fixed and almost blind — and he stumbles over 
everything in his way. Tessier says that he will march into the 
middle of a pack of hounds, and that their barking does not affright 
him; in fact, he is unconscious of evex-ything around him. The con- 
iunclival and na'saV membranes are of a deep red or violet hue, the 
nostrils are dilated, the pulse hard and full, and the breathing generally 
stertorous. Presently he begins to stagger — he falls — he struggles 
— he dies : and all this takes place in less than a quarter of an hour. 
If he had been carefully looked after this might have been foreseen, 
and probably prevented It would have been observed that the 
sheep was dull — that he lagged behind as he travelled to the pasture 
— that his flanks heaved a little, and, possibly, that rumination had 
ceased ; precautionary measures might then have been taken. 

The author is in the habit of attending the annual meeting of the 
Smithfield club, and certainly, as he goes from pen to pen, he ad- 
mires the beautiful symmetry and the high condition of the rival South 
down and Leicester sheep, which are there exhibited ; yet the 
pleasure is somewhat alloyed by the recollection that they are in an 
unnatural and dangerous state, and that there may be scarcely a step 
between them and death. He is struck with the appearance of a 
particular sheep. "Ah, sir !" says the owner, " I thought to have 
had a pen of them, but two of them died of inflammation just as 
I was about to start.'! " I lost one on the joui'ney," says another. 
" And I lost one," says a third, " for which I would not have taken 
fifty guineas." 

" They all died of inflammation." No such thing. It was apoplexy 
— the blood-striking, the apoplcxia fiihninans of the old writers, the 
ajwjdexie foudroyante of the French. They had been brought to 
the highest and most dangerous state of condition. Every vessel 
was filled with blood. They were disturbed by the preparation for 
their journey, or by the fatigue of it. The heart beat quicker and 
more powerfully : an additional quantity of blood rushed thi-ough 
the frame. It was impelled to the brain as well as to other parts. 
But the brain is enclosed in an unyielding case ; and when the 
arteries and the capillary vessi. 6 are distended with blood, they pi'esa 
upon the veins, and the coats ■- f the veins being of a far more yield- 
ing nature than that of the ar'.nies, large and small, they yield, and 
the passage through them :* .naterially diminished, or obliterated. 
The heart still labors to fbree the vital current on — the arteries be- 



74 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

come more and more distended — the veins become impervious — 
the pressure is dreadful, but the bony covering of the V)rain yields 
not. The base of the brain, whence arise the nerves of sensation 
and motion, is compressed, benumbed, and its functions are suspend- 
ed — the animal has lost all feeling, and all power of voluntary mo- 
tion. The portion of the ganglial system, which supplies the brain, 
becomes powerless under the same deadly weight, and life is sus- 
pended or lost. There is no inilammation ! Inflammation is a very 
convenient term to conceal many a blunder and many a false theory. 
It is sudden and fatal oppression of every vital organ ; not produced 
by a more violent determination of blood to the head than to other 
parts, as the language of some writers would suggest, but by the in- 
ability of the vessels of tlie brain, by reason of the unyielding bono 
that surrounds them, to circulate that increased quantity of blood 
vjrhich the vessels of other parts can readily dispose of by means of 
the expansibility of their coats, and their consequent enlarged calibi-e. 
It is in a state of general j^lethora, ichicli may become the j)arent of 
injlafnmation ; but is not the necessary cause of it. It is a highly 
dangerous state, of which sheep-breeders dream not when they view 
with delight the high condition of their flocks, and hasten the pro- 
duction of that high condition by every means in their power. 

When a flock of sheep is approaching to that condition, which 
some breeders are so anxious to produce, it should be very carefully 
watched; and if one of them is found lagging behind — standing still, 
if he can — his head hanging down — half stupid, half blind, and half 
deaf, he should immediately be bled, and to the extent which the case 
may indicate, or the animal will bear. A jjound is perhaps about the 
average quantity that should be drawn at the first bleeding; and that 
not taken from the eye-vein — the vessel usually opened by the shep- 
herd, and tne farrier too — for the most adroit of them can not always 
obtain any gieat quantity of blood from this vein, and seldomer can 
they obtain it so rapidly asitshould be drawn — but from the jugular, 
a vessel quite as easily opened, and from which the blood will flow 
in a much fuller stream. No harm could ever ensue from this bleed- 
ing, and many a valuable animal would be saved. 

Four ounces of Epsom salts should be administered as soon as 
possible after the bleeding, and an additional ounce every six hours, 
until the bowels are opened. The sheej:) should be removed to 
poorer pasture, or taken into the farm-yard, and very sparingly fed 
during a few days afterward. 

It should be deeply impressed on the mind of the sheep-master, 
that although, from strength of constitution, sheep may struggle 
against an attack of apoplexy, and the most alarming symptoms may 
gradually disappear, yet, except the depletive measures just recom- 
mended have been adopted, the recovery will be delusive. The 
disease will pass into a chronic state ; and at length will terminate 
in the death of the patient, attended by all the symptoms of inflam- 
mation of the brain. 

That farmer would act judiciously, who, having lost one or twc 
sheep by apoplexy, were, in addition to a change of pasture, to ab- 



INFLAMMATION OF THE RRAIN. 7t 

itract about half a pojnd of blood from, antl give 4 oz. of Epsom 
salts to, every one that is in tolerable condition. He might avert 
impending mischief — he would improve, rather than diminish, the 
condition of his flock, and he would lender that condition safe. Thia 
is particularly expedient at the beginning of the summer. 

INFLAMMATION OF THE BRAIN. 

Inflammation — sometimes of the substance of the brain, and, at 
other times, of its membranes, and occasionally involving both of 
them, is not of unfrequent occurrence. Inflammation of the sub- 
stance of the brain often follows the attack of apoplexy. In an eai'ly 
stage of the disease the eyes are red and protruded — the animal ia 
at first dull and heavy, and disinclined to move; but the scene soon 
changes — the eyes brighten — the flanks begin to heave — the sheep 
is in constant motion — he cocks his tail, and gallops about the field, 
and attacks his companions or the shepherd, or even a post or a tree 
that may chance to attract his attention. This ferocity — the effect 
of temporary delirium — has been confounded with madness : the 
manifest difference of character and symptoms will be best described 
when the latter disease is treated of 

The causes are nearly the same as those of apoplexy — too stimu- 
lating food and too great I'edundancy of blood, over-driving, and, 
occasionally, atmospheric influence. As for the treatment, the case 
too frequently will not admit of any. If the animal can be approach- 
ed and managed during a remission of the more violent symptoms, 
he should be bled unto fainting. Physic will be more easily given. 
The sheep, like the ox, seems to have an insatiable thirst when he 
is laboring under this disease ; and therefoie he may be cheated with 
a solution of Epsom salts, and possibly half a draclim of the farina 
of the croton nut. Use should also be made of some temporary re- 
mission of the symptoms in order to confine the animal, and take 
from him the power of doing mischief. Should the phrensy appear to 
be subdued, depe:.dence can not always be placed upon him, for, if 
subjected to the least restraint or annoyance, the fit will sometimes 
return ; and, at all events, although the inflammation may appear to 
be subdued, so much mischief may have been previously done, that 
the animal will pine away and die a mere skeleton. A continued 
course of purging and fever medicine must be entered upon and pur- 
sued, and the animal disposed of as soon as possible. 

Phrensy, or brain-fever, occurs more frequently among lambs 
than adult sheep. Mr. Tait, of Portsoy, gives an interesting ac- 
count of this malady in lambs — an abridgment of which is here sub- 
joined : — 

" Some time ago I was requested to look at a flock of sheep. Up- 
on inquiry I found that the sheep, owing to the dry season (1826). 
had been considerably stinted in their food in the summer-time, ana 
that they had been, about a month before I saw them, turned into a 
field of very fine turnips. The appearance of the sheep was rather 
strange. For about a minute they would stand motionless, and then, 
all at once, become quite frantic, dashing themselves on the ground. 



76 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

and runninor at every one within their reach. Others wouIJ all at 
once sj^ring from the ground, and fall down and die. 

" I caught one and bled her copiously, which seemed to relieve 
her much. 1 then gave her a dose of Epsom salts, which, in a few 
days, produced a cure ; and by such simple treatment many of the 
cheep recovered. In those that died, the lungs were very much con- 
gested, and the vessels of the brain turgid ; and, in some cases, rup» 
ture had actually taken place, for there was an effusion of blood on 
the surface of the brain. 

" The flock was immediately removed from the turnip-field, and 
turnips were given to them more sparingly, and the disease soon dis- 
uppeared." 

TETANUS. 

This disease, more commonly known by the name of locked-jaw 
— because the forcible closing of the mouth is one of the earliest and 
most prominent, although not the iiivariable symptom — consists in a 
constant spasm of the voluntary muscles, and particularly those of 
the jaw, the neck, and the spine. The symptoms of tetanus in sheep 
differ materially from those of the horse and of cattle. It generally 
commences with a singular involuntary spasmodic motion of the head, 
or of one or all of the extremities, attended by a grinding of the 
teeth and a fixedness of the jaws. To this succeeds a peculiar stiff- 
ness of the greater part of the frame ; the neck is protruded and the 
head bent back, and forcibly I'etained in that bended form ; and one 
leg is drawn up and fixed in an unnatural position. This rigidness 
occasionally relaxes, and gives way to violent convulsions of the head, 
neck, and extremities, followed again by fixidity of them and of the 
whole frame. The disease runs its course most speedily : the animal 
is often dead within twelve hours from the first attack ; or, if he lin- 
gers on beyond thirty-six hours, it may be regarded as a pledge of 
Ills ultimate recovery. 

M. Gasparin relates an interesting case of it, which he had from 
his friend Professor Gohier, of Lyons : " About one o'clock in the 
afternoon I perceived one of my lambs standing in a very singular 
position : all his four quarters seemed to be stiffened — his head was 
elevated and thrown considerably backward, and he was ready to fall 
if he changed his posture in the slightest degree. On examining him 
more attentively, I found that his breathing was laborious, his pulse 
accelerated and hard, his mouth open in order to enable him to 
breathe more freely, the conjunctiva inflamed, and the extensor mus- 
cles of the liead, the neck, and shoulder, spasmodically contracted, 

"At three o'clock the muscles of the jaw were nearly fixed, and 
the force of the spasm increased every minute, until the death of the 
animal. The poor creature frequently uttered a peculiarly plaintive 
sigh. 

" At ten o'clock, if he was touch'ed, however gently, the muscles 
vt' the extremities would be violently convulsed for one or two min- 
utes, and he would fall. At two o'clock, on the following morning, 
iie breathing was sadly laborious, and could be heard at a consider- 



TETANUS. 77 

al)Ic distance ; and this continnotl until six o'clock, when he died. 
The rapidity of this disease is very remarkable. As to the cause of 
it, the only tiling that was known was, that he had been exposed 
during a considerable time to a violent rain ; but two other lambs 
were also thus ext)osed, and escaped." 

The rain was the cause of the disease in this case. Thousands of 
ewes after lambing, and tens of thousands of lambs lately dropped, 
are lost every winter by careless and unfeeling agriculturists. It is 
not a great deal of attention that these animals requiie. A linney or 
ehed, a few clumps of trees, or even a thick hedge to break the force 
of the wind, would render them in a manner comfortable ; and cer- 
tainly would remove very much of the danger : but when they are 
left altogether unprotected, nothing is more common than, after a 
cold night, to iind some of the ewes and more of the lambs dying or 
dead. In travelling over some of the more open parts of the coun- 
try on a winter's morning, the author has seen, in the space of 
twenty or thirty miles, more than as many sheep or lambs stiffened 
by the cold. 

About weaning-time tetanus is also very prevalent, and the old 
shepherds pretend to foretell what lambs will fall victims to it after 
castration. If, when the operator is sawing through the spermatic 
cord with his blunt knife, or gnawing it asunder with his teetli, the 
jaws of the little animal are strongly and spasmodically clinched, ho 
says that that lamb is in danger of locked-jaw ; and, in order to pre- 
sent its occurrence, he thrusts his thumb into the mouth of the suf- 
ferer, ani forcibly separates the jaws. HuJ-trel d'Arboval laughs al 
this; but there is some good sense in it. The spasm is interrupted 
— the charm is broken, and the disposition to this excess of muscular 
action is got rid of before it has had time to establish itself generally, 
Rams are far more subject than horses to tetanus after castration, 
and especially in some parts of continental Europe, where the opera- 
tion by toi'sion (histournage) is often performed with unnecessary 
severity. 

The indications of cure are the same in the sheep as in the horse 
and cattle. A bleeding from the jugular or from the eye vein, and 
from the first rather than the second, should be immediately effected ; 
and, before the jaw becomes thoroughly fixed, one or more doses of 
the castor-oil mixture (see Medicines) should be given : it combines 
the purgative and the anodyne, which such a case rerjuires. Some 
persons administer aloes or Epsom salts, and, after that, repeated 
doses of the well-known compound the calves' cordial (see Medi 
ciNEs). The object sought to be accomplished is the same, but the 
opiate should at least speedily follow the purgative. The castor-oii 
mixture is far preferable. 

Tetanus is a far more manageable disease in the sheep than in the 
h )rse or the ox. Thousands die because nothing is done ; but the 
animal having been bled — the bowels having been opened — an ojn- 
ate having been administered — the lamb having been put into a warm 
bath, and then tolerably dried and wrapped in blankets if the case 
IS usually bad, a:ii at all times being placed withiu the inffuence o*^ 



78 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

but not too near, the fire — and a little gruel, mingled with ginger and 
ale, or even the housewife's gin, having been given — a cure will often 
De effected 



CHAPTER VIII. 

General Diseases of Sheep. — Remedies. — Mode of Management. 
EPILEPSY. 

Tetanus and epilepsy may be regarded as kindred diseases in all 
animals, but in none do they so closely assimilate to each other as in 
the sheep. Tetanus in sheep seems to be but a little more than an 
aggravated state of epilepsy. On a sudden, and without any appa- 
rent cause, a sheej) will cease to graze — he will stare stupidly in ev- 
ery direction, stagger, run round three or fcjur times, and then fall 
and struggle violently for several minutes. 

These sudden attacks oftenest occur in young sheep in good con- 
dition, and after sudden and improvident change of pasture. They 
are frequent in the beginning of spring, and more so toward the lat- 
ter part of autumn, when the hoar-frost lies thick on the ground. 
The sheep, either not having been folded, or being dismissed from 
the fold too early, gather a considerable quantity of this congealed 
water with their food, and it palsies the action of the I'umen, impedes 
the circulation of the blood through it, and determines the blood to 
other and more important paits, and among them the head. 

Pasturage and condition are probably the main agents in the pro- 
duction of this disease. 

PALSY. 

This disease, which consists of a partial or total suspension of 
nervous influence on the muscles of voluntary motion, is not of so 
frequent occurrence in sheep as in oxen. This disease is very liable 
to occur to the young lambs just dropped, if exposed to the cold. It 
is then naturally weak, or, if strong, suddenly exchanges the temper- 
ature of the mother's womb for one below the freezing point, and 
.ies for hours on a bed of snow — and the If^nb becomes palsied, and 
perhaps never entirely recovers. 

There is a little art in treating these poor palsied beings, and par- 
ticularly the young ones ; for although they resist the cold longer 
than the adult animal, they have not strength to bear the reaction 
which often follows when the vital heat begins once more to be pro- 
duced. The means of relief are simple, but they should be cautiously 
applied. The little patient should be put into a hamper and carried 
home, wrapped up in straw, and thus the scanty portion of warmth 
which continues about him will nut be dispersed. After a while, he 
may be brought into a warm room, or placed at some distance from 
ihe fire: a little warm gruel maybe administered, with some ginger; 



DISEASES OF THE SEXSES. 79 

or if he does not soon begin to rally, a little ale may he atlded to the 
gruel. Nothing stronger should by any means be allowed. Mod- 
erate warmth is the principal restorative. As soon as the lamb be- 
gins to recover, and is able to toddle a little about, he should be re- 
turned to his mother, who, in the meantime, should have been re- 
moved to a more comfortable jilace ; and her care of him, and her 
milk, will in most cases gradually accomplish a cure. 

It often happens, however, that after the palsy of the limbs has 
disappeared, the digestive organs imperfectly discharge tlieir func- 
tions. Diarrhoea — and of a kind difficult to arrest, and soon assu- 
ming a serious character — is a frequent consequence of this exhaus- 
tion. The best, and, indeed, the only safe and efficacious remedy, 
is the " sheep and calves' cordial," the composition of which will be 
found in the list of medicines at the end of this work. 

Two or three months afterward comes another dangerous season 
as it regards the iambs — the time of weaning; and especially if the 
weather should be cold. They are often turned into some distant, 
and, perhaps, upland pasture, in order that the mother and the youno^ 
ones may be out of the hearing of each other's bleating ; and that 
the food may not be too plentiful or stimulating until the lamb is 
somewhat accustomed to his new kind of nourishment. Notwith- 
standing every precaution, purging will often come on, and cold will 
be taken, and there will be weakness of the limbs generally, and 
especially of the hind limbs, and an approach at least to palsy, if not 
the actual disease. Possibly this may be somewhat connected with, 
or consequent upon, the state of almost abandonment in which they 
were left when newly dropped. The treatment in this case is very 
simjile. If the weather or the locality demand it, they should be 
placed in a more comfortable situation — a purgative consisting of 
Epsom salts, with ginger, should be administered — and, after that, a 
dose or two of the " cordial" will usually set all right. 

DISEASES OF THE SENSES. 

The organ of smelling in sheep is acuter than in most other ani- 
mals, but the farmer has often to deplore that want of discrimination 
between wholesome and poisonous food, which has caused considera- 
ble destruction in his flock. Nature gave to every animal the power 
of distinguishing one plant from another by its scent; but it was left 
to the tuition of the mothex', to a very great extent at least, to teach 
the yonng one what peculiar smell, or want of smell, designates a 
wholesome plant ; and what as plainly marks an injurious one. Foi 
a while the lamb subsists entirely, or almost so, on its mother's milk, 
and nature designed that it should be accustomed to its after-food by 
her side and under her tuition. If, from ignorance, caprice, or be- 
cause the farmer thinks he can bring his lambs, or their mother's, 
earlier to the market, he separates the one from the other, and turns 
,)ut his young stock, inexperienced and untaught, they will eat indis- 
criminately of every herb that presents itself, and many of them will 
he lost ; and he must take the consequence of his folly or his avarice. 
This is a point of agricultural economy not sufficiently attended to. 



so YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

The eyes are protected by lids of a similar construction with those 
of other animals. An oedematous state, or swelling of the lids, is 
one of the indications and accom.paniments of the rot. If, however 
there should not be the few enlarged, pale, venous blood-vessels ir. 
the inner corner of the eye which uniformly attend the early stages 
of the rot, this may be a mere local afi'ection, and a few application.9 
of weak camphorated spirit will generally remove it. 

Inflammation and soreness, and enlargement, and sometimes ever 
eion of the tarsi, or edges of the lids; will be the accompaniment or 
the precursor of scab. It is rare to see confii-med scab without sore 
eyes, and sore eyes are almost invariably followed by scab. The 
proper constitutional means and local applications must be resorted 
to in order to cure this disease; but a weak solution of the sulphate 
of zinc may be applied to the lids. 

From the same cause, and at the same time, the eyelashes are apt 
to fall off. Any weak mercurial ointment, or lard with a twentieth 
part of calomel, may be applied in this as well as in the former case, 
in order to cure the scorbutic affection, and to prevent the lids from 
adhering together. Should a scabby eruption, beginning on or about 
the lids, spread over the face, it is akin to, or is a species of scab, 
and resoit must be had to the mercurial ointment considerably low- 
ered. When the bulbs or roots of the eyelashes have participated 
in the superficial disease, and have been destroyed, as is too often the 
case in scab, the surface may be healed, but the hair will never grow 
again : but when, although the lashes have fallen, the bulbs remain 
uninjured, a little oil or emollient ointment may be applied to pre- 
vent adhesion between the lids, and nature will restore the hair with- 
out the interposition of art. 

Warty tumors occasif)nally form on the eyelids, and particularly 
on the upper lid. When they are small they should be touched a 
few times with the lunar caustic. If they are larger, they may be 
snipped off with a pair of scissors, and the caustic applied to the 
root. When neglected, they ai"e apt to degenerate into tumors of 
different kinds, and that will attain a very considerable size. 

GLOSS-ANTHRAX, OR BLAIN. 

Sheep are liable, although not so much as cattle, to that inflamma- 
tion of the tongue, or rather of the cellular tissue on the side of and 
under the tongue to which the above singular names are given. A 
few sheep in the flock are occasionally attacked by it, or it appears 
under the form of an epidemic. A discharge of saliva runs from the 
mouth ; at first colorless and devoid of smell, but soon becoming 
oloody, purulent, and offensive. 

The head and neck begin to swell, and the animal breathes with 
difficulty, and is sometimes suffocated. A succession of vesicles 
have risen ak ng the side of the tongue — they have rapidly grown 
— they have broken — they have become gangrenous — they have 
formed deep ulcers, or deeper abscesses, that occasionally break 
outwardly. 

The cause is some unknown atmospheric influence ; but the sheep 



APHTHA, OR THRUSH, 81 

nave been predisposed to be airected by it, either by previous xiri' 
healthy weather, by feeding on unwholesome herbage, or by luine- 
t,easary exposure to cold and w^t. 

Whatever may be the case with regard to cattle, there is no doubt 
that the blain is often infectious among sheep. The diseased sheep 
should immediately be removed from the rest, and placed in a sepa- 
rate and somewhat distant pasture. 

The malady must first be attacked locally. If there are any vesi- 
cles in the mouth they must be freely lanced. If any tumors appear 
on the neck or face, and that evidently contain a fluid, they must be 
opened. The ulcers must be bathed with warm water at first, and 
until the matter is almost evacuated — then lotions of cold water, in 
each pint of which one dram of the chloride of lime has been dis- 
solved, must be diligently used. Aperients must be administered 
very cautiously, and not at all, unless there is considerable constipa- 
tion. The stiength of the animal must be supported by any farinace- 
ous food that it can be induced to take — linseed jnashes — bran mash- 
es with outmeal — and the best succulent vegetables, as carrots and 
nutngel-wui'zel ; plenty of good thick gruel, if necessary, being horn- 
ed down, and two drams of powdered gentian-root and one of 
ginger, with four grains of powdered cantharides, being given morn- 
ing, noon, and night. Bleeding will be very proper in tliis disease 
before the vesicles have broken, or the external tumors begun to 
soften, and there is an evident and considerable degree of fever 
but after the purulent, fetid matter has begun to appear, it wil 
only hasten the death of the animal. 

APHTHA, OR THRUSH. 

No English writer on the diseases of sheep has noticed this com- 
plaint; yet the shephei'd has often observed it, and it has probably 
existed when he was unconscious of it or of its nature. A sheep is 
dull, and off his feed — he ceases to ruminate — he wanders about un- 
happily — he sometimes thinks of browsing, and attempts it, but aftei 
a feeble eflbrt he gives the matter up. If he had been watched a 
little m(jre closely, several small vesicles would have been found in 
his mouth, and a slight discharge of viscid saliva would have been 
seen. There is very little or no danger about this ; but it teases the 
sheep for a while, and takes him off' his food, and gets him a little 
out of condition. The mouth being washed two or three times with 
a weak solution of alum, or diluted tincture of myrrh, and a couple of 
ounces of Ej)Som salts being administered, the eruption disappears. 

There is often a curious coincidence between thrush in the mouth 
and foot-rot, when the latter has run to ulceration and fetid discharge. 
Possibly the sheep may have rubbed the deceased foot with his muz- 
rde, or he may have licked it, and the mouth has become filled with 
vesicles: or it would almost seem that there is a connexion between 
thrush and foot-rot. The sheep with foot-rot should be carefully 
watched, and if they refuse to feed — if a ropy saliva runs from thr 
mouth — they should be examined, and the simple and eftccluai 
remedy already stated ap^ilied. 

C 



82 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

There is a disease known as the " black-muzzle,' u pimplen (.r 
Kcahby eruption about the nose of" the sheep, sometimes extending 
up to the eyes and ears, encircling the former and coverinir the latter. 
The application of a little mercurial ointment very much lowered 
with lard, or the common sulphur of ointment with a twelfth part 
of mercurial, will speedily effect a cure. 

THE SALIVARY GLANDS. 

Inflammation of the parotid gland is of frequent occurrence in ihe 
ox. There are few cases of severe catairhai affection, and none of 
influenza, in which a swelling of the head and neck is not an early 
and a prominent symptom ; and it is always dreaded because, al- 
though sometimes manageable, it is a sure indica-tion in these animals 
that the disease is, or may soon become, of a typhoid character. It 
does not so often attack the sheep ; and when it does appear, if the 
•w )ol is carefully parted in two or three places, in the space between 
'.tho angle of the jaw and the neck, and a strong hartshorn liniment 
^composed of two parts of hartshorn and one of sweet oil) is well 
rubbed in, and two ounces of salts administered, the inflammation 
will disappear. 

OBSTRUCTION IN THE GULLET. 

Occasionally, but not so often as in cattle, portions of food too 
large readily to descend the gullet, are attempted to be swallowed, 
and the animal is in danger of suffocation from the pressure of the 
substance on the windpipe. The sheep is much more readily man- 
ageable than the cow. Evei-y sheep-master who uses turnips as an 
article of food for his flock, should have a small leathern probang 
with a cane stilette. The sheep in whose gullet there is any obstruc- 
tion should be placed on its haunches, with its shoulders firmly held 
between the knees of the shepherd. Then, almost without assist- 
ance, or very readily by the aid of an assistant, he can pass the 
probang with its stilette into the gullet, and, with equable, and some- 
dm.es firm pressure, force the obstructing body along. If he can not 
readily effect this, he should not have recourse to much violence, 
but pour a little oil into the throat, and then, pressing on the gullet 
immediately below the obstruction, by gentle or firm manipulation, 
endeavor to cause its return. If he is foiled in this attempt, he must 
never have recourse to brutal violence. He may, by main strength, 
force the potato or the turnip into the rumen, but he will probably 
lacerate the gullet, or induce a degree of inflammation that must be 
fatal. Let him clip the wool from the part, and all round the neck ; 
and then, with a scalpel cut down upon the seat of obstruction, and 
take out the impacted body. Two or three stitches should then be 
passed through the CBsophagus, the edges of the wound in it being 
brought neatly together. The same must be done with the external 
skin, the ends of the threads which closed the oesophagus being 
brought through the outer wound. The neck should then be ban 
daged, but not too tightly ; and the worl above and below will keep 
the bandage firm. The sheep inust be kept on gruel or mashes for 



THE PROPER FORM OF THE CHEST AND DELLY. 81 

a frw flays, or until the wound is rlosed ; the stitcl es heing- removed 
as soon as the edges of the wound plainly adhere. This is the most 
simple of all operations, and will rarely he productive of any un- 
pleasant consequences : the probang, however, shoild always be 
*irst atid fairly tried. 

THE PROPER FORM OF THE CHEST AND BELLY. 

Thii-? will be a convenient place to consider the most profitable 
form of the chest and belly, through the former of which, containing 
the heart and the lungs, the gullet passes in order to reach the latter, 
in which the stomachs and other organs of digestion are found. Tht 
bony walls of the chest consist of the dorsal portion of the spine 
above; composed of 13 vertebra?, or bones of the back — (See a cut of 
the skeleton) — the horse has 18. The latter requires length of carcase 
for the insertion of more powerful muscles, on the action of which 
liis f?peed depends. 

From each of these vertebrae arises an upright bone, likewise for 
the insertion of muscles connected with progression, and also for the 
ligament extending from the poll along the back, and by means of 
which the head is supported. The head of the sheep is proportional- 
ly less bulky than that of the horse, and it is not often that great and 
:;ontinued speed is required of him. Therefoie, if this part of the 
skeleton of the sheep is compared with that of the horse — it will be 
seen that, while there is a considerable elevation of the withers in 
the horse, and which is accounted a valuable point in him, there 
is scarcely any in the sheep ; and it would be reckoned a bad 
point in him, because it would indicate largeness and weight of 
head, and accumulation of flesh in the least valuable part of the 
carcase, and would be invariably accompanied by a narrow chest, 
incompatible with disposition to fatten readily. Therefore it is a 
principle, slow in being acknowledged when the Leicesters were be- 
ginnmg to struggle with the old breeds, that the back should be, as 
nearly as possible, straight from the rump to the neck, or, rather, 
fiom the rump to the poll. The upright bony processes at this part 
are short, thick, and irregular on their surface, in order to give firm 
attachment to such muscles as are requisite, and thus compensate for 
their deficiency in length. 

The ribs are also thirteen in number on each side; and the slight- 
est inspection of a well-formed sheep will show how much more hori- 
zontally they spring from the spine than do those of the horse, or 
even of the ox : and, consequently, the greater roundness and capa 
city of the chest. On the roundness and capacity of the chest de 
pend the size and the power of the important organs which it contains 
— the heart and the lungs : and in proportion to their size ig the 
power of converting food into nourishment. "An animal with large 
lungs is capable of coti verting a given quantity of food into more 
nourishment, and, therefore, has a greater aptitude to fatten." On 
this account the horizontal projection of the ribs from the spine, tho 
consequent roundness and greater capacity of the chest, are reckoned 
among the most important points of the sheep. In order to com 



84 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

plete the rotuT.cllty of the chest, and, with that, its greatest possihle 
capacity, the breast-bone is not narrow and deep, as in the horse, but 
of considerable breadth. In tlie young animal it is composed of 
seven distinct portions, united by cartilage; but as the sheep advan^ 
ces to maturity the cartilage disappears, and the sternum is made up 
of one continued bone. This width of the floor of the chest ac- 
counts for the forelegs of the well-formed sheep standing so far apart 
from each other. 

From the front of the sternum is a projection not seen in the horse, 
m- rather occupying the situation of the prominent convexity, the car- 
rniforin cartilage in the horse. It is partly cartilaginous, but more 
muscular and cellular, and fatty, extending between the forelegs of 
the animal in a horizontal direction, and termed tlie brisket. It is 
justly reckoned a very important point in the sheep, although it is 
never proportionally so much developed as in the ox ; for the animal 
that will accumulate much flesh and fat about the brisket, will not be 
deficient in other parts. There is a joint between the brisket and 
the proper breast-bone, which permits a lateral motion to the right 
or the left, and allows the free progres.sion of the animal notwith- 
standing the protrusicm of the sternum. 

The horizontal projection of the ribs from the spine secures a cer- 
tain capacity of chest; but there is another point to be taken into 
consideration, namely, depth as well as width of barrel. It is true 
that a deep chest is not capacious unless it is proportionally broad 
but when we have the superior projection of the ribs, and the infe 
rior width of the breast-bone, nothing more is necessary to form a 
chest most favorable to the speedy acquirement of condition, tha'a 
tolerable depth of carcass. What was the cause of the disinclina- 
tion to fatten — the almost impossibility of fattening until they were 
of a considerable age, in the old breeds, but partly the diminished 
projection of the ribs above, and, more than this, the apparent length 
of the legs, or, in other words, the want of depth in the carcass — the 
want of I'oom for the organs to propel and to animalize sufficient 
blood to secure the rapid growth of the animal. 

The stomachs and intestines are found more posteriorly. The 
stomachs are exceedingly bulky in the sheep, and they too must have 
room to discharge their function. Nature has made provision foi 
this, for the loins of the sheep — the transverse processes of the lum- 
bar vertebrae — are proportionally much wider than m the horse, and 
somewhat wider than in the ox. This secures plenty of space in the 
roof of the abdominal cavity at the anterior and central part. The 
evident projection of the hip-bones, while it gives room for the de- 
velopment of the foetus, and secures the fulness of the hind quarters 
— the most valuable part of the sheep^ — likewise contributes to the 
capacity of the belly in that direction. The springing of the poste- 
rior ribs gives roundness to the sides, and the appendix to the breast- 
bone, prolonged behind, and the thickness and power of the abdomi- 
nal muscles, give stiength to, and preserve the natural form of, the 
floor of the belly. 

Next in importance to the continued straight line of the back, and 



THE NECK — UOOVL, OR DISTENSIOX OF THE STOMACH. 85 

ihest, and the roundness of the sides, and the filling out at the flanks^ 
is the level line of the belly below. A pot or tub-belly may seem to 
give somewhat more room, but indicates weakness of the muscles 
of the abdomen, and an inability to afford its contents that support 
and pressure which are necessary f(jr the proper discharge of the 
digestive functions; and, worse than all, a tendency to increase of 
offiil at the expense of the more valuable parts. 

thp: neck. 

The form of the neck ought to be closely studied by the sheep- 
breeder, for it is one of " the jwints" of the sheep. It is true that, 
in order to support the weight of the head, the muscles are large 
and strong compared with those in the human being; and, if the 
legs are long, the neck also must be lengthened, in order that the 
head may reach the ground. The necessity of extraordinary bulk 
of muscle about the neck is, however, obviated by the employment 
of an elastic ligament, commencing at the back of the head, attached 
to every bone of the neck, and continued down to the sjiinous pro- 
cesses of the back, and inserted there; and by means of which so 
much of the weight of the head is taken from the muscles of the 
neck, that they have little more to do than to turn the head from 
side to side, and move it, within a very limited range, upward and 
downward. 

This, then, being the case with regard to the weight of the head, 
and the legs having been considerably shortened by careful attention 
to this object in breeding, the large, thick, long neck of the old sheep 
is no more to be seen ; but one, most certainly full and broad at its 
base, as being then necessarily accompanied by a round, capacious 
chest, in which the heart has full room to beat, and the lungs to 
heave, and gradually tapering toward the head, and being particularly 
fine at the junction of the head and neck. It also, in well-formed 
animals, seems to project straight from the chest, so that there is. 
with the slightest possible deviation, one continued horizontal line 
from the rump to the poll. The advocates for a thick and a thin 
neck, are both right to a certain degree It should be thick 
toward the shoulder and chest, in order to obtain thickness of chine 
and capacity of chest — it should be light toward the head in order 
to avoid that coarseness of form which is altogether inconsistent with 
kindly disposition to fatten. The drooping neck — the ewe-neck — is 
rarely or never connected with the quick accumulation of outward 
fat ; it is usually an indicati;^n of weakness of condition, and, although 
not the first, is one of the most unerring proofs of deterioration. 

HOOVE, OR DISTENTION OF THE gTOMACH BY GAS. 

This disorder arises from the fermentation and decomposition of 
food in the stomach, attended by the extrication of a considerable 
rpjantity of gas, in which carburelted hydrogen is the prevailing 
principle. 

There are certain kinds of food more disposed than others to thia 
fermentation, a^id of which the sheep at) particularly fond. Tur- 



S6 YOUATT ON SHEEI'. 

nips, clover, aT.d fresh eddish, are fruitful sources of hoove, when 
the sheep are incautiously turned on them, or suffered to remain on 
thern too long. The superior quantity of nutritive matter and juices 
which they contain requii'e that they should at first he taken in small 
quantities, until the animal becomes accustomed to them. 

In early stages of the hoove, gentle exercise would be beneficial, 
but generally the shej)hercl has recourse to the knife. He plunges 
it into the left flank, a little below the chine, and half way between 
the haunch and the ribs. The gas will immediately rush out, and the 
wound close in a few days, without injury to the animal. The sheep, 
however, will not generally do as well as before the disorder, to 
which it will be again liabl-e : it ought, therefore, to be sent to the 
batcher. 

LOSS OF CUD. 

Lambs, while they are snpported enth'ely by the milk of the ewe, 
or by that of a foster-mother, do not ruminate ; but this process com- 
mences as soon as the animal begins to take any solid food. The 
milk passes at once into the fourth or true stomach, in the sucking 
lamb, and the rumen is not at all used, and is small in size com- 
pared with the fourth stomach. A month afterward, if the lamb has 
been petmitted to follow its dam to the pasture, the habit of rumina- 
tion will have been for a considerable time established, and the ru- 
men will be more than twice as large as the fourth stomach. 

The act of rumination is partly a voluntary and partly an involun- 
tary one. It can be suspended, for a while at least, during the pleas- 
ure of the animal: and, when he chooses, it may be resumed. In a 
state of health, however, and the paunch having been filled, and its 
contents sufficiently macerated, he probably can not easily, or per- 
haps at all resist the disposition to ruminate. There is not a more 
unerring symptom of disease, either confined to the digestive organs, 
or pervading the whole frame, than the cessation of rumination, or 
" the loss of cud," as it is generally called. It is not so often ob- 
served in the sheep as in the ox, for the latter is more under the in- 
spection of the owner ; but it exists quite as frequently. As soon as 
it is observed, the sheep should be separated from the flock, and 
carefully watched and examined. The loss of cud can not, perhaps, 
be termed a disease, but it is a symptom of disease, and that either 
of an inflammatory or debilitating nature. The mode of treatment 
will depend entirely on the disease that is discovered or suspected ; the 
cause being removed, the effect will cease. It may, however, occa- 
sionally happen that the malady is very obscure. Its nature and its 
seat may be doubtful. Two ounces of Epsom salts, with a dram 
of ginger, may, in either case, be administered with great pi'opriety. 
It can not do harm, whatever may be the real complaint, and it will 
often restore the tone of the stomach and of the system. 

DISEASES OF THE LIVER. 

Oxen and sheep ai'e more exposed to diseases of this organ than 
is the horse, from the proportionate greater development of it and the 



THE ROT. 87 

excess of secretion from it. Inflammation of the liver, chronic oi 
acute, Tjot only is the foundation or the forerunner of rot, hut, in ite 
simple state, is not of uiifrequent occurrence, and is very fatal. The 
sheep hangs his head, is dispirited, partly or entirely refuses his food, 
heaves at the flank, is unvvilHiig to move, and the bowels are usually 
costive. These are symptoms of common fever; but if to them are 
added yellowness of the skin and of the membrane of the eye, ten- 
derness when pressed on the right side, and la)npness of the right 
fore-li'g,'ii is plainly enough inflammation of the liver. The prevail- 
ing cause is excess of nouiishing food, arising from too great haste 
to prepare the animal for the market. In many of the fatted and 
prize sheep that are destroyed by that murderous disease so conve- 
niently termed inflammation , the seat of the mischief was the liver, 
as is plainly enough indicated by the engorgement, and friable, bro 
ken-down texture of that organ. Marshy grounds that may not ab- 
solutely produce the rot are too frequently the cause of inflammation 
of the liver. Bleeding, Epsom salts, and spare diet, will be the most 
effectual means of cure. Sometimes inflammation of the liver ap- 
pears as an epidemic among sheep. In several parts of France, and 
particularly in Holland, this has been observed. In both places they 
give salt to the sheep, both as a preventive and a cure. It is men- 
tioned byiio English author; but if the farmer will observe the early 
symptoms of that illness in his sheep, which so far takes on the char- 
acter of rot, that the patient pines away to a skeleton, and after death 
is found to have an enlarged liver, with numerous flukes in it, he will 
suspect that in the early stage the disease was pure inflammation of 
the liver, and that he might have saved his sheep had he adopted the 
proper means. 

A visit to the slaughterhouses will show that small calculi often ex- 
ist in the gall-bladder of the sheep; but the author is not aware of 
any symptoms which indicate their existence, or of any disease tliat 
has certainly accompanied them. 

THE ROT. 

This disease is classed among those of the liver, because, except 
when the aninfal dies perfectly worn out by the malady, the most 
striking and the supposed characteristic mischief is found in this 
organ. 

So far as the author has been enabled to ascertain, more than one 
million of sheep and lambs die in every year from this disease. In 
the winter of 1830-'31, this number was far more than doubled ; and 
had the pestilence committed the same ravages throughout the king- 
dom (of Great Britain) which it did in a few of the midland, eastern, 
and southern counties, the breed of sheep would have been in a man- 
ner extirpated. 

This disease is not peculiar to England. Many sheep are destroyed 
by it in Germany. In the north of France they are frequently swept 
away by it ; and in the winter of 1809, scarcely a INIerino in the 
whole of that kingdom escaped. It is destructive as far in the north 
of Europe as Norway; and oven the most southern province* ol 



88 TOUATT ON SHEEP. 

Spam hftve iiatl occasion to mourn its ravages. It has tlilnnecl many 
a flock ill North America, and in Yan Diemen's Land and Australia 
it has occasionally been as destructive as in the worst undraiued land 
in England. 

It has existed from the earliest period of medical and agricultural 
histoT'y. Hippocrates gives a very faithful accoutit of it, erring only 
in considering the flukes as hydatids ; or rather his attention was con- 
iitied to the hydatids which are frequently found in the liver of these 
sheep. In various pei'iods of English history accounts are given of 
its ravages ; and the description of it by our earliest agricultural wri- 
ters corresponds with what we see of it at the present day. 

The early symptoms of rot are exceedingly obscure: this is much 
to be deplored, because in the first stage of it alono does it often ad- 
mit of cure. The animal is dull, lagging behind his companrons — 
he does not feed so well as usual. If suspicion has been a little ex- 
cited by this, the truth of the matter may easily be put to the test ; for 
if the wool is parted, and especially about the brisket, the skin will 
have a pale yellow hue. 

The eye of the sheep beginning to sicken with the rot can never 
be mistaken : it is injected, but pule ; the small veins at the corner of 
the eye are turgid, but they are filled with yellow serous fluid, and 
not with blood. The caruncle, or small glandular body at the cor- 
ner of the eye, is also yellow. Farmers very properly pay great at- 
tention to this in their examination or purchase of sheep. If the 
caruncle is red, they have a proof which never fails them that the 
animal is healthy. If that body is white, they have no great objec- 
tion or feai" — it is generally so at grass : but if it is of a yellow color, 
they immediately reject the sheep, although he may otherwise ap- 
pear to be in the best possible condition ; for it is a proof that the 
liver is diseased, and the bile beginning to mingle with the blood. 
There is no loss of condition, but quite the contrary, for the sheep 
in the early stage of rot has a great propensity to fatten. Mr. Bake- 
well was aware of this, for he used to overflow certain of his pastures, 
and, when the water was run off, turn those of his sheep upon them 
which he wanted to prepare for the market. They speedily became 
rotted, and in the early stage of the rot they accumulated flesh and 
fat with wonderi'al rapidity. By this manoeuvre he used to gain five 
or six weeks on his neighbors. 

It m.ay be easily conceived that a small increase in the quantity 
and stimulating property of the bile, which would bo the result of 
nascent inflammation of the liver, would increase the propensity to 
fatten. This would last but a little while, for the digestive organs 
would not long bear an excess of stimulus. They would be exhaust- 
ed by their temporary increase of action ; and wasting, more rapid 
than the previous augmentation of condition, would be inevitable. 
Bakevvell was on the wa'ch for this, and, the moment when the diges- 
tive powers were beginning to be impaired, his sheep were sent to 
the butcher. It was, after all, an unnatural state of condition into 
which the animal was brought. The muscular fibre was paler, ani 
approaching to yellow; and the fat was flabby. The meat was ten 



THE ROT. 86 

der, and perhaps WiU.d please certain epicures; but it had not the 
firmness nor the flavor of mutton honestly fattened, and probably was 
not quite wholesome. 

As the disease becomes confirmed, the yellow tinge begins to 
spread; the muzzle and the tongue are stained ; the animal is moi'*? 
dull and dispirited; his false condition rapidly disappears ; the mem- 
brane of the nose becomes livid ; the tongue gradually assumes the 
same character ; the eyes are dull, and their vessels charged with a 
yellow-brown fluid. The breath now becomes fetid ; the bowels va- 
-iable — sometimes costive, and at other times loose to a degree that 
Jefies the })ower of medicine ; the skin often becomes spotted with 
yellow or black ; the emaciation is more and more rapid ; the gen- 
eral fever increases ; the vessels of the eye are more distended and 
red ; the caruncle is consideiably enlarged ; the skin becomes loose 
and flabby, and if it is pressed upon, a peculiar crackling sound is 
heard ; the wool comes o fi" when pulled with the slightest force ; the 
appetite entirely fails ; the belly begins to enlarge : on pressure, fluid 
is easily recognised within it, and hence one of its names, " the hy- 
dropic," or dropsical rot. The animal is weak in every limb ; a vio- 
lent purging is now very frequently present ; the sheep wastes away 
to a mere skeleton, and at length he dies — the duration of the dis- 
ease being from two to four or six months. At some uncertain pe- 
riod of the disease there is an cedematous swelling on the upper part 
of the throat from an infiltration of fluid into the cellular substance 
of that part. The sheep is then said to be clioclicrcd ; and from this 
swelling the disease is sometimes called the ivatenj j^oke. 

When a rotted sheep is examined after death, the whole cellulai 
tissue is found to be infiltrated, and a yellow serous fluid everywhere 
follows the knife. The nuiscles are soft and flabby : they have the 
appearance of being macerated. The kidneys are pale, flaccid, and 
infiltrated ; the mesenteric glands enlarged, and engorged with yel- 
i<iW serous fluid. The belly is frequently filled with water, or puru- 
lent matter; the peritoneum is everywhere thickened, and the bowels 
adhere together by means of an unnatural growth. The heart is 
enlarged and softened, and the lungs are filled with tubercles. The 
principal alterations of structure are in the liver. It is pale, livid, 
Hnd brcjken dowij with the slightest pressure ; and, on being boiled, 
!t will almo# dissolve away. When the liver is not pale, it is often 
curiously spotted. In some cases it is speckled like the back of a 
toad. Nevertheless, some parts of it are hard and sciiirrous ; others 
we ulcerated, and tlie biliary ducts are filled with flukes. Here is 
the decided seat of disease, and it is here that the nature of the mal- 
ady is to be learned. It is injlammation of the liver. In ccnse- 
quence of this, the secretion from the liver is increased — at first 
scarcely vitiated, and the digestive powers are rendered more ener- 
getic ; but soon the bile flows so abundantly, that it is taken into the 
system, and the eye, the brisket, the moutii, become yellow. As the 
disease pioceeds, the liver becomes, disorganized, and its secretion 
more vitiated, and even p<nson.:>us ; and then follows a total derange- 
ment of the digestive powers. The whole system sympathizes — ev- 



90 YOIAFT ON SHEEP. 

ery viscup of the chest and tbe abdomen is giadually involved, ami 
the animal exhibits a; its death a state of general disorganization 
which accompanies scarcely anj other malady. 

The liver attracts the principal attention of the examiner : it dis- 
plays the evident effects of acute and destructive inflammation ; and 
still more plainly the ravages of the parasite, with which its dncts 
are crowded. Here is plainly the original seat of disease; the cen- 
tre whence a destructive influence spreads on every side. VV^hatever 
else is found, it is the consequence of previous mischief existing here. 
Then the first inquiry is a very limited one — the nature of this he- 
patic affection, and the agency of the parasites that inhabit the liver. 
Are they the cause or the consequence of disease 1 

The Fluke — the Fasciola of Linnaeus — the Distoma licpaticum of 
Rodolphi — the Planaria of Goese — is found in the biliary ducts of 
the sheep, the goat, the deer, the ox, the horse, the ass, the hog, the 
dog, the rabbit, the guinea-pig, and various other animals, and even 
in the human being. It is from three quarters of an inch, to an inch 
and a quarter in length, and from one third to half an inch in great- 
est breadth. 

In the belly, if so it may be called, are almost invariably a very 
great number of oval particles, hundreds of which, taken together, 
are not equal in bulk to a grain of sand. They ai'e of a pale red 
color, and are supposed to be the spawn or eggs of the parasite. 
Great numbers of the same particles are also found in the biliary 
ducts. They retain the same form, but they are often of va-rious col- 
ors — corresponding, perhaps, with the degree of vitality which they 
possess, or the time that they have remained floating in the ducts of 
the liver. They are also found in every part of the intestinal canal ; 
and, from November until April, they may occasionally be seen in 
the dung of the healthy sheep, and swarming in that of the diseased 
one, and particularly the rotted sheep. 

No difference of sex, has yet been discovered in the fluke-worm, 
and it is believed to be an hermaphrodite. 

There can be no doubt that the eggs are frequently received in the 
food. Having been discharged with the dung, they remain on the 
grass, or damp spot on v/hich they may fall, retaining their vital 
principle for an indefinite period of time. The ovp. of various ani- 
mals, larger and smaller, and of every description, likethe seeds of 
plants, retain their vitality during an almost incredible period. 
They find not always, or they find not at all, a proper nidus in the 
places in which they are deposited ; but taken up with the food, es- 
caping the perils of rumination, and threading every vessel and duct, 
until they arrive at the biliary canal, they burst from their shells, and 
grow, and probably multiply. " On killing a sheep," says a writer 
in the Bath Society Papers,"! examined the viscera carefully, 
and in some of the passages leading from the liver, and which ap- 
peared turgid, I found a whitish, thick liquor, which appeared to be 
all in motion. On applying a pocket-glass, I found it to contain 
hundreds of these flukes, which were apparently just hatched, and 
about the size of mites. These, if the sheep had not been killed 



THE ROT. 91 

would proDt>.bly have soon obtained their usual size, and destroyed 
the animal." Of the existence of the fluke out of the intestines 
there is no proof, any more than of many other of the entozoa, and 
nothing can with propriety be positively affirmed of it ; but from their 
being almost invariably found in the livers of diseased sheep, and 
many other animals, it is highly probable that they have exist- 
ence out of the body, and either on wet and marshy grounds, or in 
ponds or rivers. If they have existence there, it is probably in the 
same form as that in which they appear in the sheep, for it is in their 
last and most perfect form, that the insects of various characters per 
petuate their species. 

Leeuwenhoeck, says that he has taken 870 flukes out of one liver, 
exclusive of those that 'vc-e cut to pieces, or destroyed in opening 
the various ducts. In v ther cases, and where the sheep had died of 
the rot, there were found not more than ten or twelve. 

Then, is the fluke-worm the cause or the effect of the rot "? To a 
certain degree both. They aggravate the disease ; they perpetuate 
a state of irritability and disorganization, which must necessarily un- 
dermine the strength of any animal ; they unnaturally distend, and 
consequently weaken the passages in which they are found ; they 
force themselves into the smaller passages, and, always swimming 
against the stream, they obstruct the flow of the bile, and produce 
inflammation by its accumulation ; they consume the nutritive juices, 
by which the neighboring parts should be fed ; and they impede the 
flow of the bile into the intestines, by clogging up the ducts with 
their excrement and their spawn. Notwithstanding all this, however, 
if the fluke follows the analogy of other entozoa and parasites, it is 
the effect and not the cause of the rot. The ova hve continually 
swallowed by the sound animals and tiie diseased ; but it is only 
when the fluids are altered, and sometimes essentially changed, and 
the condition of the digestive organs is materially impaired, that their 
appeaiance is favored, or their multiplication encouraged. They 
resemble the birds of prey, that hasten the death and the demolition 
of the fallen deer, but who were not concerned in bringing the ani- 
mal down. 

It is far from certain, that the existence of a few of these entozoa, 
may not form a part of a healthy constitution, the liver being exci- 
ted to a inore uniform secretion of good bile. An intelligent pupil 
informed the author, that when in autumn a sheep used to be slaucrh- 
tered every day, for the use of the harvest-men on his father's farm, 
and he was accustomed to glean a little instruction by a 2wst-??iortent 
examination of every sheep, it was rarely that he found one without 
a fluke or two. A sheep of better condition than the rest, was sure 
to have them ; antl it was only in those that were selected because 
they were thought to have given indications of approaching aliment 
that they appeared to be numerous. 

The circumstance of the ease with which flukes may be produced 
in the liver of various animals, affords a strong presumption that they 
are the effect and not the cause of disease. If a rabbit is fed for a 
few days only entirely on cabbage, or other watery food, his belly 



92 rOUATT ON SHEEP. 

nnlarges, anJ his -nuscle and fat waste speedily away. If his food 
is not changed he speedily dies, with the enlarged liver, of rot, and 
the flukes which accompany rot. They here plainly accompanied, 
or were produced by, that derangement of the digeslive organs 
iaused by the administration of improper food. The author does 
not, however, dare to add, what would be a decisive ai-gunient, if 
true, that some sheep die rotten, and no flukes or traces of their rav- 
ages are found in the liver. He has never seen the liver of a rotted 
sheep in which the fluke-worm, or traces of his previous existence in 
the liver, were not sufficiently plain. 

The rot in sheep is evidently connected with the soil or state of 
the pasture. It is confined to wet seasons, or to the feeding on 
ground moist and maishy at all seasons. It has reference to the 
evaporation of water, and to the presence and decomposition of 
moist vegetable matter. It is rai-ely or almost never seen on dry or 
sandy soils and in dry seasons ; it is rarely wanting on boggy or 
poachy ground, except when that ground is dried by the heat 
of the summer's sun, or completely covered by the winter's rain. 
In the same farm there are certain fields on which no sheep can be 
turned with impunity. There ai-e others that seldom or never give 
the rot. The soil of the first is found to be of a pervious nature, on 
which the wet can not long remain — the second takes a long while 
to dry, or is rarely or never so. The first, perhaps, is a sloping 
"•round, from which the wet soon runs — in the level and tenacious 
soil of the other it remains during many a week or month. " In the 
parish of Little Gaddesden," says old Ellis, '• there is a common just 
before our houses, that feeds my flock in the summer-time, and the 
flocks of several other persons. This common has two sorts of sit- 
uations upon it — some of it lies sloping and the rest lies flat. The 
part of it next my farm, and where my sheep generally graze, lies 
mostly on a hanging, and they never take the rot there, because the 
waters run off" before they can wet the ground enough to make it 
dangerous to sheep ; while in another part of this common, where it 
lies flat, a farmer lost thirty of his folding-sheep in one year, out of 
fifty or sixty in all." 

Some seasons are far more favorable to the development of the 
rot than others, and there is no manner of doubt as to the character 
of those seasons. After a rainy summer, or a moist autumn, or du- 
ring a wet winter, the rot destroys like a pestilence, A return and a 
continuance of dry weather materially arrest its murderous progress. 
Most of the sheep that had been already infected die; but the num« 
ber of those that are lost soon begins to be materially diminished. 

It is, therefore, suflficiently plain that the rot depends upon, or is 
caused by, the existence of m listure. A rainy season, and a tenacious 
soil, ai'e fruitful or inevitable sources of it. 

But it is not every kind of moisture that will produce the rot. A 
meadow by a river-side may afl'ord as safe a pasture as can possibly 
be wished. There is continued evaporation from the stream, but it 
produces no rot; and the sheep often bathe their feet in it as they 
drink, but no harm ensues. The river overflows — the meadow is 



THE ROT. f)3 

during many a successive day, covered with water, lua the sieep, 
almost up to their knees, search for their food amid it. The founcia- 
tion may he laid. for foot-iot ; probahly for catarrh, or more serious 
chest affection ; but the liver-rot is out of the question. 

The water gradually subsides, and the river returns to its natural 
banks. The superficial soil of the meadow, or its substratum, is 
fortned of tenacious clay, and it remains wet during a considerable 
time. This damp surface is exposed to the united influence of the 
sun and air. The farmer knows to his cost how soon the danger then 
ct)mmences, for if he removes not his flock to a drier pasture he in- 
evitably loses a fearful proportion of them by the rot. 

There is a pond of water in the field ; it is too plentifully supplied 
with springs to be ever dried, and its banks are gravelly, or naturally 
or artificially too well clayed, to become wet and poachy. No harm 
ensues although the sheep daily flock around it to quench their thirst. 
The owner attempts to diain it, and is probably unable perfectly to 
accomplish his object. He now has, or at least in wet weather he 
has, a moist and soft surface, and, as experience will too soon teach 
him, a most dangerous spot. "A grazier of my acquaintance," says 
'Dr. Harrison, in his valuable "Inquiry into the Rot in Sheep," "has 
for many years occupied a large portion of an unenclosed fen, in 
which was a shallow piece of water that covered about an acre and 
a half of land. To recover it for pasturage, he cut in it several open 
ditches to let off* the water, and obtained an imperfect drainage. His 
sheep, imm.ediately afterward, became liable to the rot, and in most 
years he lost some of them. In 1792, the drains failed so entirely, from 
the wetness of the season, that he got another pond of living water, 
and sustained in that season no loss in his flock. For a few suc- 
ceeding years he was generally visited by the rot ; but having satis- 
fied himself by experience, that whenever the pit was, from the 
weather, either completely dry, or completely under water, his flock 
was free from the disorder, he attempted a more perfect drainage, 
and succeeded in making the land dry at all times. Since that period 
he has lost no sheep from the rot, though, until within the last few 
years, he continued to occupy the fen." 

A farmer has upon his estate a plot of ground which he boasts 
never rots his sheep; and he has ano'her on which he scarcely dares 
to turn them for a day. Thei'e comes a deluge of rain, and he hur- 
ries his finest sheep into the upper and safer closes, and is compelled 
to leave a few in the lower aud more dangerous parts. To his as- 
tonishment, many of his best sheep perish, and he does not lose one 
of his worst. The profusion of rain had converted the upper pas- 
ture into a moist rotting-ground, and had covered the lower one 
with water, and so interrupted the development of its destructive 
property. 

Then there is something more than moisture necessary for the pro- 
duction of the rot. The ground must be wet, and its surface exposed 
to the air; and then the plants, previously weakened or destroyed 
by the moisture, will be decomposed; and, in that decomnosilion, 
certain gases or miasmata will be developed, that can not be lon^ 



94 rOUATT ON SHEEP, 

breathed, )i scarcely breathed at all, by the sheep, without produ- 
cing the rot. The miasmata developed from fenny and marshy situ- 
ations produce certain disorders in the human being, which princi- 
pally affect some of the internal viscera. In ague the spleen is the 
victim ; in bilious diseases, the liver. In the rot in sheep the liver 
is the organ mostly affected ; it becomes inflamed, enlarged, indura- 
ted — then softened — ulcerated, and prepared to be the residence of 
the fluke. 

Chymistry, even in its present advanced state, will aflbrd no means 
of analyzing these deleterious gases ; and it is a matter of little 
piactical consequence to be acquainted with their constituent princi- 
ples. Of the source whence they are derived there can be no doubt 
—the decomposition of vegetable substances from the united influ- 
ences of air and moisture : the means, however, of removing the 
source of the evil is, in the majoi'ity of cases, practicable and easy. 

The mischief is effected with almost incredible rapidity. " A far- 
mer in the neighborhood of Wragby, in Lincolnshire, took twenty 
sheep to the fair, leaving six behind in the pasture on which they 
had been summered. The score sent to the fair, not being sold, were 
driven back, and put into the same field in which the six had been 
left. In the course of the winter every one of them died of the rot; 
but the six that had been left behitjd all lived and did well. There 
could be no mistake with respect to this fact, as the sheep sent to the 
Tiir had a different mark from that of the six that were left at home. 
The loss of these twenty sheep can only be accounted for on the sup- 
position that they had travelled over some common, or other rotting 
ground, and there became infected." 

The miasmata arisinsf from similar causes, and Droducinfr disease 
in the human species, are capable of being conveyed to a considera- 
ble distance without losing their infectious property. It is not only 
dangerous to live on marshy grounds, but in the neighborhood of 
them ; and there is a great difference in the health of the inhabitants 
of the adjacent country accordingly as the wind blows to or from the 
marsh. The minute deviations from health in the domesticated quad- 
ruped are not yet sufficiently understood, and indeed have scarcely 
been studied at i;ll, and therefore it can not be confidently stated tha* 
sheep in the neighborhood of rotten grounds enjoy that perfect state 
of health which they would in other situations ; but so far it has been, 
fortunately for the sheep-master, ascertain-ed, that it is necessary for 
them to pass over, or probably to graze on rotting ground, in order 
to become infected to any dangerous extent. A farmer, in addition 
to "ither land, had a dry hilly sheep-pasture, which he stocked rather 
hard. In a hollow place of that pasture was a swampy pond, which 
was preserved for the sake of supplying the wheel of the thrashing- 
machine. The farmer, notwithstanding the dry and favorable nature 
of his sheep-pasture, had occasional losses from rot in his flock: he 
fenced in the pond, and prevented the sheep from having access tD 
the swampy border that surrounded it, and the rot entirely ceased. 

Many of the circumstances connected with this disease now be- 
come perfectly intelligible. The rot rarely appears before the close 



TliE ROT. W 

ol the spring, except there is a great deal of wet toward the com 
mencemenl of the summer; and by the end of November few new 
cases of it are observable. Tlie grass is too young and vigorous in 
the early part of the spring to be subject to much putrefaction, and it 
is only a long continuance of wet weather which can so far injure and 
weaken it as to cause it to decay and become putrid. For the same 
reason, in the spring of the year, a flock of sheep may be turned 
into low ground, nay, into the very water-meadows, without being 
subject to rot; but if they are turned into the same meadows in the 
autumn, and especially if they are at all overstocked, they are almost 
sure to perish. The sheep may be tuj-ned into luxuriant pasture at 
any season of the year, and almost in any weather, and very few of 
them will become diseased. The surface of flie ground is protected 
by the quantity of the herbage, and although there may be moisture 
beneath, the air has not free access to the roots of the grass, and the 
process of decomposition either is not yet up, or proceeds languidly. 
Let, however, this luxuriant pasture be eaten bare, and the weather 
and the state of the soil be favorable — the one damp and the other 
tenacious — and the fatal malady will not be slow in making its ap- 
pearance. So in a rotting year, if the land is under-stocked, and 
thus the ground remains protected by the herbage, the loss of the 
farmer will not be immense; but if the field is overstocked and, con- 
sequently, trodden down and poached, the rot will probably assume 
a most fatal character. If, in addition to the sheep, horses and cat- 
tle are taken in to graze, the land will be still more poached, and the 
disease still more prevalent. The grass is trodden down, broken, 
and destroyed by the weight of the animals ; the water collects in 
the footmarks ; and rot, dependent on the causes already stated, is 
a necessary consequence. 

It is an old observation that on all pasture that is suspected to be 
unsound the sheep should be folded early in tlfc evening, before the 
first dews begin to fall, and should not be released from the fold un- 
til the dew is partly evaporated. Where the ground is well covered, 
the early or late folding can be a matter of little consequence, so far 
as the production of the i"ot is concerned ; but if it is bare, or wet, 
or spongy, it may be easily conceived that, while this additional 
moisture is on the ground, the process of vegetable decomposition 
may be accelerated, and more than the usual quantity of deleterious 
gas escape in combination with the aqueous vapor. 

Floods in the latter part of the summer are generally precursors 
of considerable destruction fiom the rot. The meadows, when the 
watei's clear away, must be in the highest degree dangerous. The 
grass at this time has begun to die, the outer leaves and some of 
the stalks are perishing — they want only the agency of heat and 
.iioisture to run into perfect decomposition. The rain comes, and 
with it the summer's heat; and the decomposition is rarpid, and the 
extrication of poisonous gases profuse. If the waters are not too deep, 
the sheep may remain in the meadows until the surface is denuded of 
water, and probably the heavy rains may for a very little while have 
rendere'l the upland pastures somewhat dangerous; but the moment 



96 VOUATT ).\ SHEEf 

the water retiniis to its natural bed, the sheep must be huixied frorr 
the destruction which would otherwise be their inevitable lot. " A 
rotting year of sheep," says the old proverb, " a dear year of" corn.'' 
That is sufficiently plain : the midsummer flood, for the reasons just 
stated, must be destructive to sheep, while at the same time it injures 
and. beats down the corn when the wheat is just in flower. 

Once more, during a frost the sheep may be turned on the worst 
o-round with impunity. Why 1 Tlie surface of the ground is locked 
up, and no evaporation of aiiy kind is or can be going forward ; but 
a thaw presently succeeds, and then another frost, followed by an- 
other thaw — " Many a frost and many a thaw betokens many a rot- 
ren ewe ;" so says another old proverb, and it will be sure to be 
verified. The frost has killed outright every plant that was beginning 
to decay, and the sun breaks out, and decomposition at once corrt 
mences, and with it the work of death. 

Then the mode of prevention — that with which the farmer Wi 
have most to do, for the sheep having once become decidedly rotten 
neither medicine nor management will have much power in arrest- 
ing the evil — consists in altering the character of as much of the 
dangerous ground as he can. and keeping his sheep from those pas- 
tures which defy all his attempts to improve them. Tlie nature of 
the herbage and the character of the plants which the soil produces, 
have nothing to do with the development of the rot ; it is caused 
simply by the extrication of certain gases or miasmata dui'ing the 
decomposition of vegetable matter, under the united influence of 
ntioisture and air. They are both indispensable. If all unnecessary 
moisture is removed from the soil, or if the access of air is cut off" by 
tlie flooding of the pasture, no poisonous gas has existence, and the 
sheep continue sound. The farmer can not always have his land 
under water ; and the flooding, although it may remove the j)resent 
evil, yet prepares fof its return with accumulated des'tructive power; 
but he has the means of taking away the superfluous and dangerous 
moisture. In the majority of cases he may drain, and with com- 
paratively good effect, almost every acre of suspicious ground upon 
his farm, and which he is desirous to devote exclusively or occasion 
ally to his sheep. It may be an expensive mode of prevention, but 
it is the only one, and it is a sure one.' If the expense is serious and 
more than he can well afford, he may leave a portion of his marsh 
land undrained, and on it he may turn his cattle. Yet he would not 
be altogether wise in doing this; for, although cattle are not subject 
to the rot, yet the worm in the air passages would destroy many of 
his young stock, and the older ones would suffer from moor-ill, and 
wood evil, and rheumatism, and various other diseases, of far too fre- 
quent occurrence on marshy ground. 

The kind of drainage that should be adopted is not a pr()])er sub- 
ject of consideration in this work. The farmer must adapt it to ins 
means, nis land, and the facilities which his situation may aff'ord him. 
He must, howevei", take care that it is effectual. It would, perhaps, 
be going too far to say with Mr. Parkinson, and yet he is high au- 
thority on practical points, that " there would be no rotten sheet 



THE ROT. 97 

found even upon tho most spongy land in the country, if it were 
properly drained ;" and that "there being rotten sheep on enclosed 
lands is inexcusable." There are seasons when what is called by 
the farmers a jack rot occurs — that is, a general prevalence of this 
disease. The rain does not fall sufficiently heavy to overflow tho 
lower and most dangei'ous ground, but it continues long enough to 
render the upper and usually safe ground almost as wet and spongy 
as the other. It may, however, be safely affirmed that in a shoe)) 
country, and with dangerous ground in various riarts of it, no money 
would be so profitably expended as that which was devoted to the 
drainage of the farm. 

The account of the treatment of rot must, to a considerable extent, 
be very unsatisfactory. Let it be supposed that, late in the summer 
or autumn, the farmer begins to suspect that the rot is got among 
his sheep. If he is a careful observer — if he or the shepherd looks 
the flock diligently over every morning, the malady may be detected 
at its very commencement. The serous injection of the eye, tho 
paleness of the vessels of the eye, and of the skin, and the dulness 
of the sheep, will give sufficient indication. Let it be supposed that 
the attack is just commenced. What is the condition of the sheep; 
the distance fiom the market, and the market price ? If the sheep 
are in good marketable condition, is it not best to dispose of them at 
once? or, if this is actually the beginning of the disease, shall he try, 
for a little while, to iinprove that condition % It is one of the char 
acters of the rot to hasten, and that, to a strange degree, the accumu- 
lation of flesh and fat. Let not the farmer, however, push this ex- 
periment too far Let him carefully overlook every sheep daily, and 
dispose of those who cease to make progress, or who seem to be be- 
ginning to retrograde. It has already been stated that the meat of 
the rotted sheep, in the early stage of the disease, is not like that of 
the sound one ; it is pale and not so firm : but it is not unwholesome, 
and It is covered by certain epicures, who perhaps are not altogether 
aware of the real state of the animal. All this is matter of calcula- 
tion, and must be left to the owner of the sheep ; except that, if the 
breed is not of very considerable value, and the disease has not pro- 
ceeded to emaciation or other fearful symptoms, the first loss will 
probably be the least ; and if the owner can get anything like a 
tolerable price for them, the sooner they are sent to the butcher or 
consumed at home the better. 

Supposing, however, that their appearance is beginning to tell 
talcs about them, and that they are too far gone to be disposed of in 
the maiket or consumed at home, are they to be abandoned to theit 
fate ] No ; far from it. No very sanguine expectaticuis must be 
formed of a cure ; but many more cures would be effected than are 
reckoned upon, if the farmer would throw oflf some of his fatalism, 
and bestir himself in good earnest in the afiair. There are many 
vet,erinary surgeons now flnding their way into vai'ious parts of the 
kingdom who would render good service here ; and those agricul- 
turists would deserve well of their country who demanded the estab- 

7 



98 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

lishment of a school the instructions given in which embraced the 
maladies of every domestic animal. 

If the farmer slauj^hters many sheep for the consumption of his 
family, or if he will listen to the testimony of the butcher, he will 
be assured that several of those that had been tainted by the rot have 
recovered their full health and condition without medical assistance 
— with no assistance from the farmer, except change of pasture — and 
often with no assistance at all but the renovating power of nature. 
The scars in every part of the liver in the neighborhood of the gall- 
ducts, the shrunken appearance of the liver at these spots, its ger.- 
erally diminished size — these circumstances will be sufficient to as- 
sure him that although the flock attacked by the rot, and neglected 
from supineness or abandoned in despair, will usually become sadly 
(lirninished in its numbers, the case is not so desperate with him 
who is resolved to discharge the duty which he owes to himself and 
his flock. 

If it suited the convenience of the farmer, and such ground were 
at all within reach, the sheep should be sent to a salt-marsh in pi-ef- 
erence to the best pasture on the best farm. There it v/ill feed on 
the salt encrusted on the herbage, and pervading the pores of every 
blade of grass. A healthy salt-marsh permits not the sheep to be- 
come rotten which graze upon it; and if the disease is not consider- 
ably advanced, it cures those who are sent upon it with the I'ot. 

What kind of pasture ai'e the sheep at present occupying? Is 
there the slightest suspicion of taint about it? Will the farm afford 
a dryer, a soundei', and a better ? Let them have it without delay 
— let the most valuable of them be still better taken care of — let 
them be driven to the straw-yard, or some more sheltered place. 
By these means let the supply of any more of the poison be effectual- 
ly cut off"; then carefully examine every individual in the flock. Are 
thei'e any indications of fever — heated mouth, heaving flanks, or 
failing appetite ? Is the general inflammation beginning to have a 
determination to that part on which the disease usually expends its 
chiefest virulence? Is there yellowness of the lips and of the mouth, 
of the eyes and of thu skin? At the same time are there no indica- 
tions of weakness and decay? Nothing to show that the constitution 
is fatally undermined ? Bleed. Abstract, according to the circum- 
stances of the case, eight, ten, or twelve ounces of blood. There is 
no disease of an inflammatory character at its commencement which 
is not benefited by an early bleeding. To this let a dose of physic 
succeed — two or three ounces of Epsom salts, administered in the 
cautious manner so frequently recommended ; and to these means 
let a cTiange of diet be immediately added — good hay in the field, 
and hay, straw, or chaff", in the straw-yard. 

The physic having operated, or an additional dose perchance hav- 
ing been administered in order to quicken the action of the first, the 
farmer will look out for further means and appliances. Friction with 
mercurial ointment on the region of the liver has been recommended, 
but not by those who have had opportunity to observe its secondary 
effects on the ruminant. It is used, but then cautiously, and yerj 



THE R T. 99 

much lowered, in order to cure tlie scab, or other violent (utaneous 
eruptions, and it must be used cautiously — it must be carefully 
watched — or, to speedy salivation will be added the breaking up of 
the whole strength of the constitution.^ Still, the disease under con- 
sideration, with evident determination to the liver, lequires the agency 
of this powerful but dangerous medicine. Two or three grains of 
calomel may be given daily, but mixed with half the quantity of 
opium, in order to secure its beneficial, and ward off its injurious, 
effects on the ruminant. 

To this should be added — a simple and a cheap medicine, but tha 
which is the sheet-anchor of the practitioner here — common salt. 
Many quack medicines have been obtruded on the public foi- the cure 
of rot, and wonderful stories have been told of their good effect. It 
can not be denied that some of them have been useful ; but they have 
been indebted for most of their salutary power to the salt which they 
contained, and which the farmer can pi'ocure at far less cost, and 
separated from those deleterious stimulants which, whatever may be 
their effect in protracting the disease when the powers of life begin 
to fail, are altogether out of place at the commencement of the com- 
plaint. 

The farmer is beginning to be aware of the valuable properties of 
salt in promoting the condition, and relieving and preventing many 
of the diseases of all the domesticated animals. In the first place, it 
is a purgative, inferior to few, when given in a full dose ; and it is a 
tonic as well as a purgative. Its first power is exerted on the diges- 
tive organs — on the stomach and the intestines — augmenting the se- 
cretions, and quickening the energies of each. It is the stimulus 
which Nature herself points out, for, in mcjderate quantities and min- 
gled with the food, men and beasts are fond of it. A mild tonic, as 
well as an aperient, it is plainly indicated soon after the commence- 
ment of the rot. The doses should be from two to three drams, re- 
peated morning and night. When the inflammatory stage is clearly 
passed, stronger tonics may be added to the salt, and there are none 
superior to the gentian and ginger roots ; from one to two drams of 
each, finely powdered, may be added to each dose of the salt. 

The hay, if any is allowed, should be plentifully sprinkled with 
salt. The sheep will be induced more readily to take it; when, oth- 
erwise, the remembrance of their green food might cause them ei- 
ther to eat sparingly of it, or to refuse it altogether. 

The use of salt, for general purposes, is no new i-ecommendation. 
Some of the most ancient Greek writers on agriculture have spoken 
of it in the strongest terms, but it has never been valued so much as 
it ought, and in the rot its triumph is most signal aud certain. 

The sheep, having a little recovered from the disease should still 
rontiime on the best and driest pasture on the farm, and should al- 
ways have salt within their reach. The rock-salt will be the most 
convenient, and the cheapest, considering the wasting and melting 
of the common salt ; and if it should be necessary, on account of the 
arrangements of the farmer, again to place them on suspicious ground, 
the allowance of salt should be ample, or, in fact, unlimited. 



100 YOUAXr ON SHEEP. 

It does not appear that one sort of sheep is more lial>le to the rot 
than another, but the heavy breeds of sheep, requiring more abun- 
dant and grosser food, are oftener placed in situations liable to en- 
gender the rot. 

After the account which has been given of the nature and treat- 
ment of the rot, the questions as to the infectiousness, or hereditary 
cliaracter of the disease, are readily answered. No one who is in 
the slightest degree acquainted with the subject could for one mo- 
ment suspect it to be infectious. It results from the breathing of 
these injurious gases, and from nothing else. Even the previ- 
ous condition of the animal seems to have little influence in caus- 
ing or preventing it. As to hereditary predisposition, tliat too is 
altogether out of the question. The rot is produced by a cause of 
mei'ely temporary influence and power. How far, however, it may 
1)6 prudent to breed from animals that have been affected by the rot, 
is another question. The rot can not be produced in the offspring 
by any taint that may be derived from the parents — but the general 
debility which this malady leaves behind it, and the predisposition to 
disease of certain viscera, and particularly of the liver, from causes 
that would scarcely affect other sheep — there is much in this which 
deserves the serious consideration of the farmer. He will probably 
conclude that a sheep that has recovered after an attack of this fatal 
malady should be consigned to the butcher as soon as he is in mar- 
ketable condition, and that it would be imprudent to breed from anj 
animals that had been attacked by the rot. 

One circumstance should not remain unmentioned — it is so with 
many other diseases, in both the human being and the brute, and it 
is a wise and kind provision of nature — the ewe with a lamb by her 
side possesses, with a very few exceptions, an immunity from infec- 
tion, even on the worst ground. 

SHEEP'S DUNG— FOLDING. 

Sheep's dung is valuable for manure, and for some other purposes. 
It has been supposed, and probably with truth, that it contributes 
more to the improvement of the land than does the dung of cattle. 
It contains a greater proportion of animal mattei", and that cot)densed 
into a smaller compass ; and it falls upon the ground in a form and 
manner more likely to be trodden into and incorporated with it, than 
the dung of cattle. Hence arose the system of folding sheep on the 
arable part of a farm in many districts in the midland and southei'n 
parts of England. The sheep were penned on a small space of 
groimd, and the pens being daily shifted, a considerable quantity of 
land was ultimately manured. In Norfolk, where the system was 
more than usually prevalent, it was cmisidered to be a valuable point 
with regard to the sheep, that they might be driven to a considerable 
distance in oi'der to be folded. 

On the other hand, it is certain that the sheep must suffer in some 
degree from being driven a mile or two to the fold morning and 
night, and having their hours of feeding and of rest controlled. The 
sheep that are so folded do not fatten so well as others, on accounl 



ACUTE DROPSY, REDWATER. 101 

(tf this additional labor, and on account likewise of the unnecessary 
exertion during tlie day, wlien, collected in large bodies, lliey are 
struggling for the lead. The system of folding, therefore, is not so 
much practised as it used to be on arable land, although often highly 
"oeneficial in an unenclosed or down country, and more particularly 
advantageous when the sheep are turned on turnips, clover, tares, or 
other rich food, for they feed at their ease, and manure the land at 
the same time. 

ACUTE DROPSY, OR REDWATER. 

In treating of the diseases of the belly of the sheep, it will be nat- 
ural first to consider those of the enveloping membrane of the intes- 
tines. It is strangely subject to acute inflammation. In the autumn, 
or commencement of winter, when sheep are beginning to feed on 
turnips or other succulent food, the shepherd will perha])s look over 
his flock in the evening, and perceive nothing amiss with any of them ; 
but on the following morning one or more of them will be found dead. 
They will be lying in nearly the usual posture, the legs bent under 
them, and the head protruded : there has not been any severe strug- 
gle — but they are dead— and, on examination, the belly contains a 
greater or less quantity of bloody fluid, and the peritoneum, and es- 
pecially the mesenteric and omental portions of it, is highly inflamed. 
Often a change of pasture, and especially from a dry to a cold and 
wet one, and especially if there is much hoar frost, will be as de- 
structive as an inconsiderate change of food. The animal becomes 
chilled by this sudden change of situation. The belly, coming most 
in contact with the damp and cold ground, is first affected. The 
losses of the farmer in the autumn and winter are often exceedingly 
severe from this disease. It is generally termed redwater, natui'ally 
enough from the color of the fluid with which the belly is filled ; yet 
there is an objection to the term from the possibility of its being 
confounded with the discharge of red-colored urine, to which the sheep 
is likewise subject. 

It is this disease which is so fatal among lambs soon after they are 
yeaned, when the farmer suffers them to lie about upon a moist and 
chilling soil. The difference between the temperature of the moth- 
er's womb and the cold air that is generally felt at yeaning-time is a 
sufficient cause of hazardous disease, without the sheepmaster aggra- 
vating the danger by incautiousness and inhumanity. 

It is probable that no blame may attach to the shepherd on account 
of his not observing any previous illness, for the progress of the dis- 
ease is often almost incredibly rapid. It is an instance rarely occur- 
ring in the practice of the human surgeon, but very interesting t<.. 
him, of the rapidity with which this product of inflammation may 
accumulate in the belly. 

In Some cases, however, there will be warning of the commence- 
ment of the disease. The sheep will lag behind, or separate himself 
from the flock, or stand with his head protruding, or begin to breathe 
with difficulty, and the enlargement of the belly inducing suspicion 
of the real nature of the case. Before the eff'usion has much pro 



IC8 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

needed, the animal will evince a great deal of uneasiness, lying d( wn 
and getting up; sometimes rolling about ; occasionally the mucous 
coat of the intestines sympathizing with the peritoneal, and there 
being frequent watery stools, mixed with mucus and bile, Oftener, 
however, there will be obstinate constipation. 

In the present imperfect state of our knowledge of the diseases of 
sheep, and when the symptoms, and the circumstances relating to 
food and situation, lead to the suspicion of the existence of this mal- 
ady, the best advice that can be given to the farmer is immediately 
to slaughter the animal. If any medical treatment is adopted, it must 
consist of bleeding to a very considerable extent — the administration 
of purgatives — the change of pasture, or \he substitution of more 
wholesome food. 

As for that species of dropsy which is the consequence of debility, 
or the result of various diseases, it is usually past all cure. It is the 
almost invariable accompaniment of the rot in its last stages: it fol- 
lows acute inflammation of the liver, and chronic peritoneal inflam- 
mation ; it is a symptom, scarcely to be mistaken, of the breaking up 
of the constitution. 

It is a disease very common among old sheep, and at the end of 
the autumn or the beginning of the winter. Its earliest symptom is 
swelling of the legs toward night, swelling under the jaw, loss of 
flesh, and strength, and spirits ; then enlargement or hanging down 
of the belly ; and, at length, the detection of the water, by striking 
the belly with one hand while the other is held firmly on the opposite 
side. 

Gentle purgatives mingled with tonics — the Epsom salts, with 
gentian and ginger — little watery food, and a liberal allowance of 
hay and corn, will be the only restoratives. The evacuation of the 
fluid by the use of the trocar should be intrusted to no one but a 
veterinary surgeon, and will very rarely afford permanent relief If 
the system can not be sufficiently restored to cause the reabsorption 
of the effused fluid, the relief by tapping will be temporary and de- 
'usive 

DIARRHOEA. 

If these aflfections of the external coats of the intestines do not fre- 
quently occur, inflammation of the inner or mucous membrane is the 
very pest of the sheep. When it is confined principally to the mu- 
cous membrane of the small intestines, and is not attended by much 
tenesmus or fever, it is termed dlarrlioea ; when there is inflamma* 
tion cf the large intestines, attended by fever, and considerable dis- 
charge of mucus, and occasionally of blood, it is dysentery. These 
diseases are seldom perfectly separate, and diarrhoea is too apt to 
degenerate into dysentery. The diarrhoea of lambs is a dreadfully 
fatal disease. If they are incautiously exposed to the cold, or tho 
mother's milk is not good, or they are suckled by a foster-mother 
that had yeaned too long before, a violent purging will suddenly 
tome on, and destroy them in less than twenty-four hours. 

When the lamb begins to croj) the grass at his mother's side he-'j* 



DYSENTERY. 103 

lia\)i(i to occasional disturbance of the bowels; but as he gains strength, 
the danger attendant on the disease diminishes. At weaning-time 
care must sometimes be taken of him. Let not, however, the faimer 
be in haste to stop every little looseness of the bowels. It is in these 
young animals the almost necessary accompaniment or consequence 
•jf every change of diet, and almost of situation ; and it is freijiiently 
a sanative process : but if it continues longer than four-and-twenty 
hours — if it is attended by pain — if much mucus is discliarged — if 
the appetite of the animal is failing him in the slightest degree — it 
will be necessary to attend to the case. The medicine is that which 
is sold under an expensive and not always genuine form by the name 
of the "Sheep and Calves' Cordial." The best way of compound- 
ing it is the following : take of prepared chalk an ounce, powdered 
catechu half an ounce, powdered ginger two drams, and powdeied 
opium half a dram; mix them with half a pint of peppermint-water. 
The dose is from one to two tablespoonfuls morning and night. 

Should the purging prove obstinate, it will be advisable to remove 
the lamb from the mother, for her milk is j^i'obably not good. The 
milk of another ewe may not be procurable without difficulty ; it will 
therefore be generally expedient to have recourse to the milk of the 
cow, which should be boiled : the Calves' Cordial being continued 
as before, and good cai-e and nursing being never forgotten while 
the animal labors under this disease. 

The diarrhoea of lambs is, in a great majority of cases, attributable 
to the carelessness or mismanagement of the farmer, either refera- 
ble to deficient or improper food, or the want of shelter at an early 
age: as the animal grows up, he is better able to struggle with the 
disease. 

Diarrhoea occasionally attacks the full-gi'own sheep, and is too 
often fatal, especially when it has degenerated into dysentery. It is 
very common in the spring, and particularly in the early part of the 
season, when the new grass begins rapidly to sprout. Here, still 
more decidedly than with the lamb, the sheep proprietor is uro^ed 
not too suddenly to interfere with a natural or perhaps beneficial dis- 
charge ; and after which the animal often rapidly gains condition. 
Four-and-twenty hours should pass before any decisive step is taken ; 
but if the looseness then continues, the sheep should be removed to 
shorter and drier pasture, and hay should be ofleied to them, if, after 
having tasted of the fresh grass of sj)ring, they can be induced to 
touch it : a dose or two of the Sheep's Coidial may also be adminis- 
tered with advantage. The looseness not abating, and especially tlie 
eymptoms of dysentery which have been just described, appearing, 
another course raust be pursued. 

DYSENTERY. 

The careless observer would not always mark the difference be- 
tween diarrhoea and dysentery ; they are, however, perfectly distinct 
in their seat, their nature, and their consequences. Diarrhtea is often 
an effort :>f nature to expel from the intestinal canal souething that 
aflfends. It may be only increased peristaltic action of the bowelsr 



IU4 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

increased secretion from the mucous glands, and accompanied hy 
little inflammation and less danger. It is, at first, an affection of the 
small intestines alone; but it may extend through the whole aliment- 
ary canal — and inflammation, which is not a necessary part of it, 
appearing, and increasing, general fever may be excited, attended 
by considerable danger. Dysentery is essentially inflammation of 
the large intestines — the result of neglected or obstinate diarrhoea, or 
altogether distinct from it — the consequence of unwholesome food — 
of being pastured on wet or ill-drained meadows — and of being half 
starved even there. Fever is a constant attendant on it in its early 
staofes, and wasting and debility rapidly follow. 

The discharge of dysentery is different from that of diarrhoea. It 
is thinner, and yet more adhesive. A great deal of mucus mingles 
with it, which causes it to cling to the wool of the tail and the thighs; 
and there it accumulates, layer after layer — a nuisance to the animal, 
a warning to the owner of much danger, and that near at hand. 
When this kind of evacuation has been establislred but a little while, 
the next warning will be loss of flesh, and that to an extent that 
would scarcely be deemed credible. The muscles of the loins will 
all waste away ; it is a living skeleton on which the owner puts his 
hand when he examines the state of the patient. Sometimes the ani- 
mal eats as heartily as ever; at other times the appetite utterly fails. 
The continuance of the disease, or the time which is requisite in or- 
der to wear the animal quite down, is uncertain. Dysentery occa- 
sionally carries off its victim in a few days ; but frequently the miser- 
able-looking patient struggles with its enemy for five or six weeks, 
and dies at last. 

It is only lately that the proper treatment of this malady has been 
recognised. In every case of acute dysentery, and whenever fever 
IS present, bleeding is indispensably requisite; for this is essentially 
a disease of inflammation. Physic should likewise be administered, 
however profuse the discharge may be ; for it may carry away some 
of that perilous stuff which has accumulated in the large intestines, 
and is a source of fearful irritation there, and it will tend to lessen 
the general fever which accompanies this stage of the malady. The 
sheep must be lemoved from that situation and food which perhaps 
excited, and certainly prolong and aggravate, the complaint. Mash- 
es, gruel, and a small quantity of hay, must be given. 

Two doses of physic having been administered, the practitioner 
will probably have recourse to astringents. The Sheep's Cordial 
will supply him with the best; and to this tonics may soon begin to 
be added — an additional quantity of ginger may enter into the com- 
position of the cordial, and gentian-powder will be a useful auxiliary. 
With this — as an excellent stimulus to cause the sphincter of the 
anus to contract, and also the mouths of the innumerable secretory 
and exhalent vessels which open on the inner surface of the intestine 
— a half grain of strychnine may be combined. 

BRONCHITIS. 

Lambs, and particularly when too eai'ly, and too much exposed,. 
are subject to inflammation of the bronchial passages, indicated bj 



ACUTE INFLAMMATION OP THE LUNGS. 105 

loss of appetite, tenderness when the throat, or the belly, is pressed 
upon, and particularly by a icheezing cough, which the careful ob- 
server will at once distinguish from the ringing one of laryngitis. 
The Epsom salts, with, in the treatment of the diseases of these 
youngsters, the addition of more than the usual proportion of gin- 
ger, will generally give relief, especially if the comfort of the animal 
■".s somewhat attended to. 

Bronchitis in young cattle is often accompanied or caused by the 
presence of worms in the air passages, which are a source of great 
irritation, and frequently of death. Sheep are far less troubled 
with these parasites : but several cases have come under the cogni- 
sance of the authoi', in which the air-tubes were filled with them, and 
the animal destroyed by the inflammation which they set up. This 
will be suspected when the cough is unusually distressing, and almost 
continual. Like the same disease in cattle, it is confined almost en- 
tirely to low, marshy, woody pastures — and to yoimg lambs and hog- 
gets ; and is oftener seen in those that have been neglected and are 
weakly, than in the well-fed and healthy stock. Occasionally, how- 
ever, it prevails in dry summers, and on good pastures, when the 
ponds are nearly dried, and full of animalculas. 

The first, and the most important curative measure consists in re- 
moving the sheep from the pasture, of whatever character it may be, 
on which they become diseased. The medical treatment lies in a 
Email compass ; it is the administration of common salt; in doses of 
1-^ or 2 oz. daily, with 6 or 8 oz. of lime-water, given in some other 
part of the day. The author is indebted to his friend Mr. Mayor, of 
Newcastle-under-Line, for the knowledge of this most successful 
rnethod of treating bronchitis in young cattle, and he has found it 
quite as successful in sheep. 

ACUTE INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS. 

This is by no means an unfrequent disease among sheep. It is 
caused by cold and wet pasture — chills after hard driving — washing 
prior to shearing — shearing during inclement weather, and other cir- 
cumstances of a similar description. Its first indication is that of 
fever — hard and quick pulse — disinclination for food — cessation of 
rumination — unwillingness to move — slight heaving of the flanks, 
and a frequent and painful cough. To this succeeds a more fre- 
quent and distressing cough — a greater disturbance of respiration — 
a total disgust of food — an oppressed and j)erhaps intermittent pulse 
— a discharge of foetid matter from the nose — a grinding of the teeth 
— an insatiable thirst, and an eager darting at the food ofl^ered, bu». 
which is afterward retained in the mouth unmasticated, as if the ani- 
mal were unconscious of its presence. A short time only passes ere 
other symptoms follow. The pulse becomes almost imperceptible, 
the cough is weaker and yet more painful — the flanks convulsively 
agitated — a crepitus, or pressure on the loins — a nauseous dischai-ge 
from the nostrils — a staggering walk — a clouded eye — a countenance 
expressive of suffering and despair. The cough now ceases — the 
pulse d'.es away — the animal becomes half unconscious — perhaps 



106 . YOUATT ON SHEEr. 

delirium succeeds, shortly after which death closes the scene. Ex 
aminatifMi after death exhibits the lungs, almost always, gorged with 
blood, black, decomposed, and lacerated by the slightest touch, and 
one, or sometimes every lobe strangely increased in bulk, and not 
Bubsiding in the slightest degree when tlie atmosplieric air presses 
upon it. These are the characteristic lesions, but in addition lo 
them are inflammation of almost all the viscera — fulhiess of the 
maniplus, distension of the abomasum, and enlargement and soften- 
ing of the liver. 

It is difficMlt to account for the fact, that inflammation of the lungs 
in sheep generally takes on this gangrenous character Is it because 
the animal seems to be destined to the quiet and undisturbed accu- 
mulation of fat and growth of wool, and that no provision is made 
for those disturbances of the respiratory apparatus, and therefore the 
structure of the lungs is soon disorganized 1 

If such is the rapid and fatal progress of this disease in sheep, 
characteristically called by the shepherds, the "rot of the lights," the 
course of treatment is sufficiently plain. In the early stage bleeding 
and purging must be carried to their full extent : for by such means 
alone can a disease like this be subdued. On the other hand, how- 
ever, the actual state of the patient must be carefully ascertained. 
Depletion may be of inestimable value during the continuance, the 
short continuance, of the febrile state; but excitation like this will 
Boon be followed by corresponding exhaustion, and then the bleed- 
ing and the purging would be mui'derous expedients, and gentidii, 
ginger, and the spirit of nitrous ether, will afford the only hope of 
cure. 

CONSUMPTION. 

There is another, and still more frequent, and equally fata) d..sease 
of the lungs, but it assumes an insidious character, and is not recog- 
iiised until irreparable mischief is effected, viz., sub-acute, or chronic 
inflammation of the lungs, and leading on to disorganization of a 
peculiar character — tubercles in the lungs, and terminating ni phthisis. 
The sheep is observed to cough — he feeds well, and is in tolerable 
condition — if he does not improve quite as fast as his comj)anions, 
still he is not losing ground, and the farmer takes little or no notice 
of his ailment. Perhaps it can hardly be expected that he should; 
for although it might be difficult, or perhaps impossible, to prepare 
this cougher for the Christmas show at Smithfield, there is no diffi- 
culty in getting him into fair marketable condition. 

He is driven to the market, and he is slaughtered, and the meat 
looks and sells well ; but in what state are the lungs ; Let him who 
is in the habit of observing the plucks of the sheep, as they hang by 
ihe butcher's door, answer the question. He sees plenty of sound 
'ungs from oxen — he sees the lungs of the calf in a beautifully-healthy 
state ; but he does not see one lung in three belonging to the sheep 
that is unscathed by disease — whose mottled surface does not betray 
inflammation of the investing membrane, and in the substance of 
which there are not numerous minute concretions — tubercles. 



CONSUMPTION. 107 

1 erhaps tl; ese lesions quickly follow sub-acute inflammation of the 
lungs, but they do not rapidly increase afterward. Tlieir existence 
produces a slight cough, which scarcely interferes with health — nay, 
it is a matter of question whether the degree of irritation which they 
produce does not for a while stimulate the lung to an increased dis- 
charge of duty, and whether tliere is not more blood arterialized, and 
more flesh and fat produced; and therefore in the modern system of 
grazing, when the sheep is sent to the market, sometimes at eigh- 
teen months old, and seldom later than thirty months, this disease, 
which at a moi-e mature age would destroy the animal, is disarmed 
of most of its terrors. 

This constitutes a material distinction between consumption in the 
cow and the sheep. In the first animal there is for a time, and often 
a long time, appetite and condition, and a plentiful secretion of milli ; 
but, for the purpose of breeding and milking, the cow is kept year 
after year, until the disease is fully established and runs its fatal 
course : in the other animal the disease is not allowed time to develop 
itself. But what is the case, and that not unfrequently, with the ram 
and the ewe when they get three or four years old 1 The cough 
continues — it increases — a pallidness of the lips, or of the conjunc- 
tiva, is observed — a gradual loss of flesh — an occasional or constant 
diarrhoea, which yields for a while to proper medicine, but returns 
again and again until it wears the animal away. How many, in a 
breeding stock of sheep, perish in this way ? Of how many diseases 
is this cough and gradual wasting the termination. It is the fre- 
quent winding up of turnsick ; it is the companion and the child 
of rot. 

This disease is especially prevalent in low and moist pastures, and 
it is of most frequent occurrence in spring and in autumn, and when 
the weather at those seasons is unusually cold and changeable. It 
is almost useless to enter into the consideration of treatment. It 
would consist in a change to dry and wholesome, and somewhat 
abundant pasture — the placing of salt within the reach of the 
animal, and, if he was valued, the administration of the hydrio- 
date of potash, in doses of three grains, morning and night, and 
gradually increasing the dose to twelve grains. With regard, how- 
ever, to the common ruTi of sheep — when wasting has commenced, 
and is accompanied by cough or dysentery, the most honest and 
profitable advice which the surgeon could give to the farmer 
would be, to s(Mid the animal t(> the butcher while the carcass wil 
fcadily sell 



103 YOUATT ON SHEEr. 



CHAPTER IX. 



Mreeding — Manaeremen. of the Ewe durinq: Pregnancy. — Abortion. — Tbe Preparatioi 
for Lambi.ag — Tiie Lambing — The Cifisarian Operation. — Care of tbe Lambs. — Castra- 
tion. — Docking. — Spaying. — Diseases of the Lambs. — Sorting of the Lauibs. 

BREEDING— THE GENERATIVE AND URINARY SYSTEMS. 

The object of the sheep-master, is to raise and to retain that ani- 
mal which will pay best for the consumption of its food. With the 
breeder of cattle, this is a very simple affair — he selects and cultivates 
that animal which will attain the greatest maturity and weight in the 
shortest time, and on the least quantity of food. The diary-maa 
wishes to add another quality to the aptitude to fatten, namely, the 
yielding, and for a considerable time, a large quantity of milk. The 
sheep-breeder also derives his profit from two sources, the early ma- 
turity of the carcass, and the quantity and useful properties of the 
wool. Both will occupy his attention : the first, in every case, anc 
as his grand object ; the second as valuable, but regarded more as a 
subsidiary. 

How shall he attain these objects 1 He looks carefully over his 
flock, and he observes that some of his sheep — the food and the gen- 
eral management being the same — fatten more quickly than others. 
There is the same attention paid to all, but the profit is abundantly 
more from some than from the majority of their companions. He is 
anxious to account for this. He compares these sheep with some of 
their fellows, and he observes that there is an evident difference of 
conformation, a fineness of bone, a roundness and compactness of 
form, a condensation of substance, and a beautiful proportion of ev- 
ery part. He studies this, and he finds that there is more or less of 
this conformation in every sheep that materially outstrips his fellows. 
He inquires farther, and if he has employed different rams, the one 
that possesses most perfectly this peculiarity of form, and its accom- 
panying aptitude to fatten, was the parent of these promising sheep, 
or their dam had these points in considerable perfection. He now 
begins to form some notion of the kind of animal that the profitable 
sheep should be ; and, he has living proof that these valuable prop- 
erties may and will descend to the offspring. 

His pride and his interest are involved, and he examines these 
flowers of his flock with still closer attention. He finds that, in the 
handling, they present as great a difference to the feeling as they do 
to the eye. There is a softness, a springy elastic softness, in distinc- 
tion from the hard, harsh, unyielding nature of the skin, and the tex- 
ture immediately beneath it in others, which once impressed on the 
mind, can never be forgotten ; and he associates this with the certain- 
ty of early maturity. 

Having satisfied himself with regard to these things, he dismisses 
the ram that does not exhibit these qualities, or that fails in getting 
lambs possessing them ; and the ewes that do not approach to the 
boau idftil which he has formed in his own mind, or whose lambs are 



BREEDINU GENERATIVE AND URKVARY SYSTEMS. 109 

inferior in apjiearance or in thriftiness. He fattens these and sends 
them to the butcher. He collects together the lambs as soon as 
their form and qualities begin to develop themselves — a little experi- 
ence will enable him to judge accurately of this at a very early age 
—and without hesitation he discards those tliat are not up to the mark, 
wliether ram or ewe-lambs. He puts by a few of the very best of 
the males for a second examination, at no very distant time, and ev- 
ery faulty one is selected from the ewe-lambs, and prepared for the 
butcher as quickly as may be. In this way, the flock is systemati- 
cally and rapidly iinproved, and the breeder is well repaid for the 
diligent attention which he has given to this important object. If 
his Jlock is large, he toill find in this i^rinciple of selection everything 
that he can want. 

There is one point more, the importance of which he can not 
overrate — he should never preserve a lajnb that has an evident and 
glaring defect. In proportion as his flock improves he should regard 
this as a. rule that admits of no exception; for the principle that 
"like produces like," extends as powerfully to the defects as to the 
excellences of the animal. The progeny infallibly inherits the de- 
fects as well as the excellences of the parent; and no improvement 
in a good point, already possessed to a considerable extent, can com- 
pensate for the introduction of an obvious blemish. 

On this principle of selection the breeder will continue to proceed, 
if his flock is tolerably large, and he will even be jealous of the in- 
troduction of a foreign breed. The good qualities of his sheep, 
transmitted from one generation to another, are no longer accidental 
circumstances. They have become a part and portion of the breed, 
and may be calculated upon with the greatest degree of certainty. 
They constitute the practical illustration of the term blood. It would 
be long ere the good qualities of a stranger would form an identical 
portion of the sheep ; and no animals will elsewhere thrive so well, 
or improve so rapidly, as on the pastures on which they and their 
forefathers have, generation after generation, been accustomed to 
wander. 

But, after a while, with a considerable degree of certainty in a 
small flock, and too frequently in a larger one, the sheep will continue 
tD arrive early at maturity, and to fatten as kindly as before, or even 
more so, but they evidently are decreasing a little, and yet only a little, 
in size. They do not bear the severity of the weather quite so well, 
and perhaps they are somewhat more subject to disease. The 
farmer will do well to take warning. He has been breeding too 
long from close affinities; and he must introduce a little different and 
yet congenial blood. He must select a ram from a soil, and kind 
of food, not dissimilar to his own, although at a distance perhaps as 
great as convenience will permit — with points as much resen-bling 
his own sheep as may be — quite as good as those in his own flc ok — 
superior if possible in some points, and inferior in none, and he must 
dismiss his own ram for one year and make use of the stranger. His 
purpose will be completely answered. He will have infused a tone 
»nd vigor amci'.g bis sheep — they keep their propensity to fatten. 



JlIO YaUATT ON SHEEP. 

and they reacquire that health and hardiness which they used to ex 
hibit, and the fanner is enabled to go on satisfactory for a certain 
number of years ; when experience will tell him that a stimulus, in 
the form of a little foreign blood, is again wanted. Thus is illustra- 
ted that axiom with regard to all our domesticated animals — " selec- 
tion with judicious and cautious admixture, is the true secret of 
forming and improving a breed." The errors to be avoided are too 
long-continued and obstinate adherence to one breed; and, on the 
orhei hand, and even more dangerous, violent crosses, in which there 
is little similarity between the soil, the pasture, or the points and 
qualities of the animals that aie brought together. 

The ewe is sufficiently matured for breeding at fifteen or eighteen 
months. The old farmers did not employ them for this purpose until 
after the second shearing: but the improvement in the breed, which 
develops so soon a disposition to fatten, and prepares them so much 
earlier for the market, hastens also the develojiment of the generative 
powers in the sheep. 

The ewes and rams being kept in diffeient pastures, the farmer 
can select his own time for bringing them together, and consequent- 
ly, the time for yeaning ; and iliat will depend on various circum- 
stances. Where there is a demand for house-lambs, or the farmer 
adopts the rearing of such lambs as a part of his system of manage- 
ment, the period of yeaning should commence as early as Septembei' 
or October, in order that in November and December the lambs may 
be ready for the market, and, at which time they will obtain a good 
remunerating price. 

In the general coui'se of breeding, however, it is desirable that the 
lambs should not fall until the cold of winter is over, and the pasture 
begins to afford some food for the little ones. This is peculiarly im- 
portant in bleak and exposed situations. Thousands of lambs die 
every year from the cold to which they are exposed as soon as they 
are yeaned. On the other hand there may be some inconvenience and 
danger if the period of lambing is too late. Hot weather is as fatal 
to the mother as cold is to the offspring. It frequently induces ^ 
dangerous state of fever ; and both the mother and the lamb may be 
then injured by the luxuriance of the grass. If the lamb falls late in 
the season, it will be longer ere the ewe can be got ready for the 
butcher, and the ground cleared for other stock — and, in addition to 
this, the early lambs becoine larger and stronger, and better able to 
resist the cold of the succeeding winter. The yeaning time will, 
therefore, be regulated by the situation of the farm, the nature of the 
pasture, and the demand from the neighboring markets. It will sel- 
dom, however, commence before the middle of March, or be post- 
poned beyond the middle of April. 

The duration of pregnancy is about five months or 152 days, and 
that with comparatively trifling deviation. The time for putting the 
ram with the ewes will thei'efore be from the middle of October, to 
that of November. No preparation is necessary, except, for a few 
weeks previously, to place the ewes on soaewhat better pasture than 
usual. Before the ram is admitted the farmer should always fold and 



MANAGEMENT OP THE EWES DURING PREGNANCY. Ill 

examine the ewes, first as to their possessing that form and. appear- 
ance tliat are hkely to perpetuate the breed which he is desirous to 
possess, and secondly, to ascertain whether they are in good health, 
the proof of which will be the whiteness and firmness of their teeth, 
the sweetness of their breath — the brightness of the eye and of the 
cbuntenar.ee, the degree of fat which they carry, and the firmness 
with which the wool adheres to the pelt. Every inferior or diseased 
ewe should be separated from the rest, and prepared, as speedily as 
may be, for the butcher. 

in consequence of the new system of breeding and management, 
the ram will be sufiiciently matured at the same age as the ewe ; but 
it wili not, perhaps, be prudent to allow him so many ewes as would 
be placed with one of greater age. The number should be some- 
what regulated by the apparent health and strength of the animal 
and the pasture from which he comes. Forty or fifty ewes may be 
allowed to the sheerling, and seventy or eighty to the older ram. 
The practice of worrying the ewes with dogs, or employing a teaser, 
has deservedly fallen into considerable disuse. Tt was formerly 
the custom to raddle the ram, or rub a little red ochre on him from 
his brisket to his belly, and repeat this daily for a fortnight. If the 
marked ewes still continued in blossom and followed the ram, it 
would show that they had not been impregnated by him, and ex- 
perience proved that if the first connexion was not successful no 
other would, getierally speaking, be so with the same ram. This 
owe would then, jjrobabiy, be put with another ram, or another ram 
would be selected to take the place of the first in the ewe-flock. 

The ram having been put with the ewes, the owner should visit 
the enclosure once or twice every day. During the first four or five 
days the ewes will be seen flocking around him, and following him 
from place to place : but if this long continues there will be reason 
to suspect that he is incompetent to his duty, and the owner will 
probably be disposed to remove him, or to place a younger ram in 
the same fold with him, who, although he may be persecuted and 
driven about by the first, will find opportunity to impregnate those 
ewes with whom the other has failed. At the expiration of the third 
week, the first ram, v/hether he appears to have discharged his duty 
or not, should be removed, and another put in his place. By this 
means all except the barren ewes will certainly be impregnated. 

MANAGEMENT OF THE EWES DURING PREGNANCY. 

The rams having been finally parted from the ewes, some little 
attention should be paid to the latter. They should be driven gently 
to and from the fold ; no dogging should on any account be allowed ; 
they should be separated from the rest of the flock, and, if possible, 
a sheltered and tolerably good pastuie should be allowed them. If 
the convenience of the farmer requires it, they may have turnips, or 
mangel-wuizel, or other green food in the winter; but they must 
not lu- suffered to gorge themselves ; nor indeed should any food, or 
quantity of food be given to them, by viieans of which their condition 
may be naterially or scarcely at all increased. It has been supposed 



IIJJ YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

by some breeders that, because the ewe is with lamb, an additiona! 
quantity of food, and of more nutritive food, should be allowed — 
nothinor can be more erroneous or dangerous, to both the mother and 
the offspring. There will be too many causes of inflammation readjf 
to act, ai;d to act powerfully, during the time of gcjiiig with lamb, t(> 
permit the least approach to excess of food, 

ABORTION. 

One of the evils to be dreaded is premature labor. The ewe is 
not so subject to this as the cow; but there are occasional instances 
of it. Fortunately, however, it is not so infectious — if this term 
may be used — it does not spread so rapidly through the flock as 
through a herd of dairy cows. The causes of abortion are various, 
and some of them as contrary as possible in their nature. It mav 
arise from starvation, and especially when a cold winter succeeds tvi 
a wet summer and autumn. It is also produced in the open and 
neglected part of the country, from continued intercourse with tiie 
ram after the period of gestation is considerably advanced. This is 
frequently the case among the mountain and the moor sheep. It has 
often been known to f jIIow the incautious and hasty driving of the 
sheep into the fold in the later period of pregnancy. A leap over a 
ditch or a low gate has been followed by abortion, and so has a sud- 
den fright when a dog' addicted to worrying sheep has suddenly 
made his appearance in the flock. 

Some very ixitelligent flock-masters have assured the author that 
they have attributed it, and satisfactorily so, to ihe too liberal use of 
salt. They had adopted the modern and judicious practice of put- 
ting salt within the reach of the greater part of their flock, and par- 
ticularly of those that were supposed to be affected with the rot. A 
portion of the flock had not access to the salt. Some cases of abor- 
tion had occurred in the flocks of all of them, but it was almost con- 
fined to those ewes that had partaken of the salt. One gentleman 
told the author that he had given two ounces of common salt, with 
a little ginger, to a pregnant ewe that was dull and off her food, and 
that she aborted twelve hours afterward. Here was a striking coin- 
cidence in point of time, but it must be left for future experience to 
determine how far this, generally speaking, invaluable medicine may 
be injurious to the pregnant ewe. One favorable circumstance may 
be stated — that when abortion occurs, from whatever cause, it is 
rarely fatal to the ewe. 

There is one singular and too frequent consequence of abortion, 
namely, the detachment of a portion or of almost the whole of the 
wool during the following spring. 

There are few symptoms that designate the approach of abortion 
in the sheep until it is too close at hand to be prevented from occur- 
ring. A degree of dulness and of disinclination to food, and a fre- 
quent or almost continual bleating, followed by the discharge of a 
glaii-y, or yellow, or red, and fetid discharge from the vulva, would 
Bufiiciently indicate it, but being so near at hand as not to be arrested 
in Its course. Were it not for the woolly ceverir g of the ewe, the 



THE I'UKPARATION FOR LAMBI.VU. 113 

cessatitjii of the motion of the ta-tns, and tlie sudden Adling of the 
belly, would leave no room for doubt. 

The consequence of abortion is uniformly the death of the lamb. 
In the majority of cases this occurs some hours or days before the 
fa^tus is parted with ; in a few instances the lamb is born alive, but 
it dies in a very short space of time afterward. 

The treatment after abortion will depend entirely on the circum- 
stances of the case. If the foetus had been long dead — proved by 
the fetid smell of it, and of the vaginal discharge — the parts should 
l)o washed with a weak solution of the chloride of lime; some of 
which may also be injected into the uterus. If fever should supei'venc, 
it should be met by tiie treatment already recommended for that form 
of disease. If debility and want of appetite should remain, a little 
gentian and ginger, with small doses of Epsom salts, will speedily 
restore the animal, care being taken that the food shall not be too 
nutritive, or too great in quantity. 

THE PREPARATION FOR LAMBING. 

The 152d day from the admittance of the ram among the flock now 
approaching, some have recommended that tlie ewes should be put 
on better pasture, in order that they may have sufficient strength at 
the moment of yeaning, and that there may be an adequate supply 
of milk for the support of tjje lamb. If, however, she has during 
her pregnancy been placed on tolerably fair pasture, and is now in 
moderate condition, this stimulating system is to be deprecated as 
fraught with evil. Few ewes have sunk under the labor of parturi- 
tion, unless they had been previously half-starved; and it is seldom 
that nature fails to supply sufficient nutriment for the young one : but 
many a ewe has been lost by means of that inflammation for which 
the stimulating plan lays the almost necessary foundation, and thou- 
sands of lambs have been destroyed by a flush of too nutritive milk, 
of which their weak powers of digestion could not dispose. Many 
a grazier has sustained considerable loss from having lambed his 
ewes thinly on strong land, but few have suffered who have placed 
tiiem more thickly on the pasture. 

The ewes should be removed as near to home as convenience will 
permit, and, according to the quality of the pasture, should occupy 
as little space as possible, in order that they may be more under thr-. 
.mmediate eye of the lambf r. 

The process oi clatting should now commence. The ewes should 
^Q driven into a fold, and the hair removed with the shears from 
jnder the tail and the inside of the thighs, atid around the udder. 
Without this, many a lamb would be prevented from sucking bv 
means of the dirt and filth which had accumulated around these 
parts; and, after the clatling, the lamber will be more readily able 
to distinguish the ewes that have lambed. This is a matter of some 
consequence, for it will not unfrequently happen that the young ewes 
will desert their lambs, and graze among the others as careless and 
indifferent as if nothing had happened. The barren ewes will also 
be readily detected and separated. 

8 



114 yOL'ATT ON SHEEP. 

Some farmois clat the ewes bef ire the ram is admitted into tne 
field, l)ut this is an exceedingly bad practice. The winter is ap- 
proaching; the ewe will be uncomfortable and "cold, and, occasion- 
ally, garget, and inflammation of the womb, and abortion, and death, 
will be the consequences of this thoughtless and cruel disclosure. 

The lamber should now be on the watch, day and night. Tlie far- 
mer himself should superintend, or assist in the duties of tiiis sea- 
son. Few of them are sufficiently aware of their interests here, or 
the immense losses which they sometimes sustain from the careless- 
ness, or impatience, or brutality of the lamber. " Many lambs," says 
Mr. Price, in that most interesting part of his valuable treatise of 
sheep — the management of the ewes and their progeny duiing the 
lambing season — " may be lost without it being possible to charge 
the lamber with neglect or ignorance, although greater attention on 
his part might have saved many that otherwise perish. The practice 
of lambing is at times very intricate, and is apt to exhaust the pa- 
tience of a lamber. Sheep are obstinate, and lambing presents a 
scene of confusion, disorder, and trouble, which it is the lamber's 
business to rectify, and for which he ought always to be prepared. 
-Some of the ewes perhaps leave their lambs, or the lambs get inter- 
mixed, and the ewes that have lost their lambs run about bleating, 
while others want assistance. These are onb/ a few of the occur- 
rences which call for the immediate attention of the lamber," and 
which render it necessary thai the owner of the sheep should be on 
:.the spot, and should superintend the whole concern. " In the year 
1805," continues' Mr. Price, " I mentioned this to one of the great- 
est sheep-owners on the Marsh, and who said that he would watch 
the lamber more attentively than ever; and the consequence was, 
that in the following spring lie was moi-e successful than he had been 
in any one of the preceding twenty-five years." Another master, 
pursuing the same plan, saved 200 pairs of twins out of SOO ewes, 
whereas he had never before saved more than 100, and, in some 
years, not more than one lamb to each ewe. 

There is one custom, which has been permitted in various parts 
of England, and that should be for ever abolished — the skins of the 
dead lambs becoming the perquisite of the lamber. It would be 
unfair and unjust to charge the lamber with being generally dislion- 
est; but he should not be exposed to the temptation of becoming 
so: his interest should be inseparably united with, and not in oppo- 
sition to, that of his master. 

The time of lambing nearly approaching, and the lambing field 
having been selected, a small pound or folding-place should be en- 
closed in the most sheltered corner of it, into which the ewes and 
lambs that require assistance may be driven. The fences, and par- 
ticularly the ditches, should be well examined, and if there is watei 
in the ditch, the bank of it should be carefully guarded. The ewes 
often select the side of the hedge or ditch to lamb on, because it is 
usually barer of grass than most other paits of the field. Except 
precaution has been aken, these will be found exceedingly danger- 
ous spots, for t\\< lau \ when rising, raaj stagger back into the ditch, 



THE LAMRINQ. 115 

and if he does so he will certainly he drowned. If there is the least 
danger attending any part of the ditch, and a ewe seems to have 
selected that for her place of yeaning, she should be driven from it 
again and again, and especially when the lambing field is left for the 
night. 

Another and smaller field, and with somewhat better pasture, shoukl 
also have been selected, into which the ewes that may have twins 
may be turned. Theie will be less of the confusion which often 
occurs among these twins, and the ewe will be better enabled to 
orovide for her double piogeny. 

The lamber should have with him his lamb-crook ; a bottle of 
milk — ewes' milk if possible, and cari-ied in his bosom or in an inside 
pocket, that it may be kept warm ; some cords to tie legs of the 
ewes that he may have occasion to assist or to examine ; a little pot of 
tar, with two or three small marking-ii'ons, that he may place a dif- 
ferent mark on each pair of twins, in order that he may be enabled 
afterward to recognise them; another little pot of grease or oil, to 
lubricate his hand, if he should have occasion to intnjduce it into the 
womb of any of the ewes ; a sharp knife, with a round or rather 
curved extremity, should it be necessary to remove the lamb piece- 
meal from the mother; a piece of stout polished iron rod, of the size 
jf a goose-quill, twelve inches in length, and rounded at one end, 
somewhat like a button-hook, in order to remove from the womb a 
dead or divided foetus ; a sheep's drenching-horn ; a small bottle of 
cordial, consisting of equal parts of brandy and sweet spirit of nitie ; 
and a sti'ong infusion of ergot of rye. 

If the ochre had been applied to the ram, and the order in which 
thv-i ewes were stained by it had be;en noted, he would be aware what 
ewes required the earliest watching. This is seemingly a triflinor 
thing, yet it may be the cause of many a lamb being saved in the 
course of the season. As he goes liis rounds among them he should 
raise every ewe that appears early in the list, and which he finds 
lying down, and he should observe whether there are about her any 
symptoms of approaching labor ; and as the ewe-flock had previously 
been kept as free from disturbance as possible, he should now ap- 
proach them with additional care and tenderness. 

In the more open parts of the country, the ewes, as the yeaning- 
time approaches, should be folded every night. With commendable 
humanity, and prudence too, the liurdles are frequently guarded with 
«traw. Mr. Price says that be knew a grazier who used boarded 
hurdles as a protection to the lambs, and they were lambed in folds, 
the lamber attending onthem during the night. Wlieii he lived in 
Herefordshire the ewes were driven into cots every night during the 
lambing. They were turned out in the day into an adjoining pas- 
ture, and had peas and straw, and sometimes turnips, given to them 
durino;- the nijjht. 

THE LAMBING. 

The period of lambing having commenced, the attention of the 
lamber should be incrcrscd. He should carefully observe every ewe 



116 yOUATT ON SHEEP. 

that appear? to be in labor. While she walks about and d:ios not 
exhibit any extraordinary dejrree of suffering, he should not inter* 
fere ; nor should he do so if she rises wiien he approaches, and walks 
away, unless her labor has been protracted twenty bonis or more. 
He should not be in haste to render his assistance, although she 
should be continually lying down and getting up again, and showing 
more impatience or irritability than actual pain: but if her strength 
appears to be declining, his immediate aid is required. If he has to 
drive her to the fold or pound, it should be as gently as possible, or 
he should drive some others with her, in order that she may not be 
frightened by being alone selected. The early interference of the 
lamber is always prejudicial, and very frequently fatal. Nature, in 
the course of twenty or twenty-four hours, will, in the great majority 
of cases, accomplish that which can not be hurried on by art without 
extreme danger. 

The state of the weather will cause a very considei'able difference 
in the duration of the labor. When the weather is cold and dry, 
and especially if the situation is somewhat exposed, the progress of 
the labor will be slow — the throes will be compaiatively weak and 
ineffectual, and the ewe may and should be left a consideiable time 
before mechanical assistance is rendered. When, however, the 
weather is warm, and especially if, at the same time, it is moist, the 
throes will be violent, and the' strength of the sufferer will be very 
rapidly wasted; there will be a dangerous tendency to inflammation, 
and the aid of the lamber is speedily required. Except under these 
circumstances, no motive of curu)sity, no desire to know how the 
affair is going on, should induce the lamber to interfere while the 
throes are natural and the strength continues, unless it is evidejit, 
without handling the ewe, that a false presentation, or some mechan- 
ical cause, prevents the expulsion of the foetus. When the ewe is 
nearly exhausted, she will often suffer the lamber to kneel beside her 
and successfully afford the requisite assistance. If thei'e is a violent 
struggle between the patient and the lamber, the foetus will often be 
destroyed ; but his help, when she quietly submits to him, will rare- 
ly fail to preserve the mother and her offspring. Let it be supposed 
that, from certain circumstances, she is driven to the pound, or that 
Bho is Ij'^ing quietly by the lamber in the field. He should first en- 
deavor to ascertain the nature of the presentation. Is the lamb com- 
ing the right way, with its muzzle first and a forefoot on each sido 
of it ? If the tongue is not protruding from the mouth and becoming 
almost black, and her strength is not quite wasted, a tablespoonfui 
of his cordial, with double this quantity of the infusion, will probably 
increase or recall the pains ; and the lamb will soon be born. If 
this is not effected in a quarter of an hour, a second dose of the in 
fusion should be given ; and, that being followed by no good result 
he should try what mechanical assistance will do. He should draw 
down first one leg and then the other, endeavoring with his finger to 
solicit or coax the head onwaixl at the same time. If he can not 
readily get at the legs, he should push the head of the lamb a little 
Uackvrard and downward, w' en he will probably be ena Aed to gra«j 



THE LAMBIKG. 117 

them. If he does not now succeed, the cause of the obstruction will 
he sufficiently plain, namely, the two great largeness of the head, 
wliicl) can not readily pass the arch of the pubis ; and, therefore, 
either tying the legs of the ewe, or an assistant keeping her down on 
her right side, the lamber should grasp the two fore-legs in one hand, 
and, with one or two fingers of the other, introduced into the vagina 
by the side of the head, urge it forward with as much force as is con- 
sistent with the safety of the lamb. The young one will rarely fail 
to be extracted by these means, except the head very much exceeds 
the common size. 

The false presentations are not numerous in the ewe, and they are 
usually accounted for with tolerable readiness. When the ewe in- 
lamb has been violently hunted by a dog — whether occasioned by 
the thoughtlessness or brutality of the shepherd, or his boy, or the 
natural ferocity of the animal — it may be readily conceived how 
mucli the situation of the foetus may be disarranged by the l^aps and 
falls (jf the sheep. The author has more than once fancied that he 
could trace a connexion between the unnecessai-y and rough handling 
of the shepherd, in the early period of parturition or before the com- 
mencement of it, and an altered position of the foetus. The clattiiig 
is a necessary operation, but there needs not a tenth part of the vio- 
lence that is sometimes used. The connexion between these cir- 
cumstances is of so frequent occurrence, that, on this account alone, 
some sheep-masters defer the clatting until after the dropping of 
the lamb. 

The most usual false presentations are — the side of the lamb press- 
ing agaipst the mouth of the womb, which may be readily detected 
by feeling the ribs — or the back, and then the bones of the spine 
can scarcely be mistaken — or the breech, when the bones of the 
haunch will be immediately recognised. The hand, when oiled or 
greased, should be introduced into the vagina, and, the foetus being 
pushed a little back, one of the legs will probably be felt, and may 
easily be drawn into the passage. Being held there with the left 
hand, the corresponding leg must be got at likewise, and brought into 
the passage ; after which the delivery will usually be effected with- 
out any great degree of trouble. The most dangerous presentations, 
and the most difficult to manage, are the crown of the head and the 
breech. In both cases the lamb must be pushed back into the womb. 
The head must then he raised with the fingers, and brought into the 
passage of the former case, and in the latter the lamb must be push- 
ed far enough into the womb, to enable the shepherd to bring down 
tlie hind-legs, a work not always easily accomj)lished, or to be ac- 
complished at all, on account of the manner in which tliey are ex- 
tended under the belly The principal loss in lambing is to be 
traced to one or the other of these presentations, and chiefly to the 
latter. 

The larab having been placed in its natural position, and the labor 
pains being strong, much may be left to nature ; the strength of the 
animal being supported, and the pains rendered more regular and 
effeclive 1 y small doses of ginger and the ergot of lye. The position 



.18 ¥OUATT 3N SHEEP. 

however, being unnatural, manual assistance can not be tc J early 
afforded. The lamber should not use more force than is absolutely 
necessary in order to di'aw away the lamb; yet a considerable de- 
gree of it may be quietly employed without endangering the life of 
eithei' the mother or the offspring. If the ewe is nearly exhausted, 
the application of this force is imperiously requiied. 

Difficulty sometimes occurs in cases of twin-lambs. They may 
both present at the same time, either naturally or otherwise. The 
one that is least advanced must be returned, and the other extracted 
as speedily as circumstances will permit. The lamb that was re- 
turned may then be left to the power of nature, and will speedily 
follow. 

As soon as it can be ascertained that the lamb is dead within the 
mother, means must be taken for its extraction. There are instances 
in which the dead lamb has been retained in the womb during a 
considerable period of time, or, even during the life of the mother, 
but they are rare; the animal has seldom thriven well; and, in the 
greater majority of cases, she has pined away and died. The foetus 
may sometimes be extracted by the hand ; at other times a blunt- 
pointed knife, and an instrument somewhat resembling a large but- 
ton-hook, are necessary. 

THE CiESARIAN OPERATIOiV. 

Supposing, however, that the lamb is strong and lively, and the 
mother is not quite exhausted — but it is evident, .from the size of the 
lamb, or from peculiarity of position, that it can not be extracted 
alive, but that both the offspring and the mother must be destroyed 
— supposing also that the breed is valuable — would the opening of 
the belly of the mother, and the extraction of the lamb through the 
opening, be warrantable ? The Caesarian operation, as it is called, 
has been performed on the human female, and in a few cases with 
success. It has also been attempted on the quadruped, and would 
oftener be so, were the veterinary surgeon supposed to know any- 
thing respecting the diseases of sheep. 

There are two cases on record in which it was performed on the 
sheep. A four-year-old ewe was brought to M. Gohier, veteiinary 
professor at Lyons. She had been in labor twelve hours. The pain» 
were now rapidly becoming weaker, and she was nearly exhausted- 
From malformation of the parts, it was, after numerous trials, and 
which completed her exhaustion, found to be impossible to deliver 
her : the lamb, also, was dead. It was determined, as the only 
chance of saving her, to attempt this operation. An incision, five 
inches long, was made in her flank ; the mass of the intestines was 
jmshed aside ; an incision of the same length was made into the 
womb, and the foetus and the placenta extracted. The intestines 
were then replaced, the wound closed by several sutures, and a 
bandage passed round the belly and over the wound. The operation 
was unsuccessful, and it had been attempted too late ; for the powers 
of life were exhausted, '^lld the p'Oor animal died on the following 
day. 



INFLAMMATnN OF THE WOMB. H9 

Or. the other hand, the following account appeared in the Farmei-s' 
Journal, May 26, 1S23 : " On the Sth ult., a ewe, the i)roperty of 
Mr. W. Pickering, of Kettering, was in labor. W. Dexter, the 
shepherd, not being able, with proper assistance, to bring tlio lamb 
forward, opened the ewe, and tuok out the lamb alive ; he afterward 
replaced the intestines, sewed up the wound, and carefully dressed 
her. In a shoit time the ewe grazed as before the operation, and, 
six weeks afterward, both the ewe and her lamb were doing well." 

In cases, then, of imperative necessity, and when the death of the 
mother would otherwise be inevitable, this operation is admissilde. 

In some lambs that are born apparently dead, the vital principle 
io not extinct, but it soon would be so if the little animal were suf 
feied to remain on the cold damp grass. Every lamb that is found 
in this situation should be carefully examined, and if there is the 
slightest degree of warmth remaining about it, the shepherd should 
blow into its mouth, in order to inflate the lungs : many a little one 
has been thus saved. 

The lamber needs to trouble himself very little about the expulsion 
of the placenta, or cleansing, although a day or two may pass before 
it is detached. A couple of ounces of Epsom salts, with a little gin- 
ger, may be given, if there should be aionger delay, or if symptoms 
of fever should be exhibited, but the farmer will do well to avoid the 
rough barley, or the mistletoe, or, in fact, any stimulant, for there is 
at this time sufficient disposition to fever, without its being artificially 
Bet up. 

INVERSION OF THE WOMB. 

The womb will occasionally be protruded and inverted after a la 
bor of unusual severity, or when great violence has been resorted to 
in extracting the lamb. It is usually returned as gently and as speed- 
ily as possible, and confined in its situation, either by a suture or by 
a little iron ring passed through the lips of the external parts. The 
ring is the surest method, for the twine or thread may cut through 
the lips of the orifice ; and in sonje cases it is long before the uterus, 
although carefully returned, will remain in its natural situation. 

The French place a i^essary hig'.i up in the vagina, and secure i" 
in its situation by means of the suture or ring. This renders th 
thing somewhat more secure. A far better operation would be, not 
to return the womb at all, but to tie a strong ligature round the pro- 
truded parts, as near to the mouth of the vagina as possible. The 
uterus will slough off in the course of two or three days. There will 
be no bleeding, or the slightest inconvenience, and the ewe will be- 
c:;me as healthy and as fat as any of the flock. 

Every ewe from whom the uterus has protruded should be fattened 
fo: the butcher as soon as she has reared her lamb. 

INFLAMMATION OF THE WOMB. 

The ewe is subject to two species of inflammation of the womb 

one before and one aftei lambing. The first disease, which is pri 

niarily inflammation, rapidly degenerates nito dropsy. It usually 

begins about a month before lainbinjr. Sometimes the ewe increases 



t20 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

in size until the weight becomes insupportable, anci then she «iie9 
from weakness, before, or shortly after, parturition. In other cases, 
when slightly affected, she recovers; but the disease seems to have 
extended to the lamb, which, although it may appear strong when it 
is first dropped, soon refuses to suck, and dies on the first or second 
day ; and, when examined, is found to contain considerable fluid in 
different parts of the abdominal cavity. The shepherds term them 
Ujater-hclVied lambs. The loss of lambs in this disease, either from 
bad feeding or some epidemic influence, or both, has occasionally 
imounted to ten or fifteen per cent. Remedy there is none, for the 
nature of the disease is scarcely discovered ere the animal dies. The 
preventive may be, the withholding the dangerous quantity of tur- 
nips that is sometimes allowed to ewes at this time, and the substi- 
tution of a corresponding portion of dry food. 

The inflammation of the womb after parturition usually comes on 
between the fiist and fourth day, and especially when any violence 
^as been used in exti'acting the lamb. It is a most fatal disease, and 
speedily runs its course. The treatment should be, bleeding and 
purgatives of Epsom salts. On some farms the loss of ewes from 
/.his disease has been two or thi'ee per cent. 

AFTER PAINS. 

Connected with the last disease, or a variety of it, are the after- 
oains, or heaving, to which ewes are subject, and which are fre- 
quently severe and destructive. They are apparently the same pains, 
out considerably stronger, which nature uses to expel the lamb. 

Mr. Price says that a farmer on Romney Marsh lost several ewes 
m 1806, in the latter part of the lambing season. They larabed 
vvithout any assistance, but they were afterward seized with heaving 
pains. He had removed them from poor to rich keep. Another 
grazier had thirteen ewes to lamb, during the latter end of the lamb- 
ing season. The weather became warm, and the grass was luxuri- 
ant, and he lost eleven of them from heaving^. 
.... • 

This disease is evidently produced by the ewes being too well 

Kopt during their piegnancy. It can not be too often repeated, that 
it is a fatal error to overfeed the ewes at this period, with a view of 
giving them strength to support their approaching labor. It is a 
most unscientific and injurious practice, and severely does the farmer 
suffer for it. But there is some epidemic influence also at work, or 
the constitution of the sheep is at that time irritable almost beyond 
belief; for Mr. Price adds : " This inflammation takes place sooner 
or later, according to the extent of injury received during parturition, 
or the condition of the body, or the nature of the keep, or the state 
of the weather ; for I have seen ewes, kept alive a long time from 
the wind being north, perish the moment it changed to the south." 

MONSTROSITIES. 

Although not so subject to strange variations from the usual form 
&s are swine, cats, and some other animals, the sheep have occasion- 
ally strange malformations or multiplications of certain parts — a 



CARE OF THE LAMBS. 121 

duplicature of heads, a duplicature of bodies, and a multiplication 
of legs, have not unfrequently been seen. The lamber should not 
be innnindful of this in cases of long and difficult parturition. The 
introduction of the hand will usually detect any circumstance of this 
kind ; and the lamber should immediately adopt the proper course 
ot treatment. A misshapen animal is a worthless one, except for the 
museum of the curious; therefore, at all hazard to the fcetus it must 
oe immediately removed by the hand, if possible, or, if that can not 
be accomplished, by the agency of the knife. 

CARE OF ffHE LAMBS. 

It is the duty, and would be the interest, of the farmer, to attend 
to the comfort of his ewes and lambs at this period; the lambing- 
field should always be a sheltered one, and there should be °a 
temporary or a permanent retreat for the weakly and the cold. The 
first care of the shepherd therefore should be to examine the newly- 
dropped lamb. If the^ ai-e chilled and scarcely able to stand, he 
should give them a little of the milk, which he carries always with 
him, and then take them to some shelter, or place them in a' basket 
well lined with straw. Nursing of this kind for an hour or two will 
usually give the animal sufficient strength to rejoin its mother. 

Nature has given to the sheep, as well as to other animals, an in- 
stinctiveand strong affisctionfor its young; an affection which strength- 
ens in proportion to the necessities of the parent and the ofllsprino-. 
The more inhospitable the land is on which they feed, the greater 
their kindness and attention to their little ones : nevertheless it will 
occasionally happen that the young ewe, in the pain and confusion 
and fright of her first parturition, abandons her lamb. Some, when 
the udder begins to fill, will search it out again, and with unerring 
precision — others, severed from, their offspring before they had be"^ 
come acquainted with its form and scent, are eagerly searching for 
it all over the field with incessant and piteous bleatings. Some will 
be hanging over their dead offspring, while a few, stiangely forgetting 
that they are mothers, are grazing unconcernedly with the rest of 
the flock. 

There is another circumstance that adds to the confusion. Some 
of the ewes have had twins; they have inadvertently strayed from 
one of them, or stupidly or capriciously have driven it from them ; 
and the neglected one is wandering about, vainly seeking its parent, 
or angrily repulsed by it. 

The first thing a lamber has to do is to remedy as well as he can 
this confusion. He first seeks out for those that have twins, and that 
have recognised both of their lambs, and, taking his little marking- 
bottle and marking-iron, he puts a particular mark on each of the 
twins, by which he may again recognise them, and on each pair he 
puts a different mark. If they are just dropped, and are weak, he 
leaves them for a while; but if they are able to travel a little, he 
drives them into a pound, or into a corner of the field with the other 
twins, or he at once removes them into another ani somewhat better 
pasture, vhich he had destined for the twins. 



182 , VOUATT ON SHEEP. 

He tlien looks for tlie 'ambs that have apparently been abanrlon* 1 
by the mother, and if, as he takes one of them up, it bleats, he wi'l 
presently find' whether thei'e is any responsive call or gaze of reco^- 
uition. If the mother eagerly calls to it, he has but to put it down 
and she will speedily rejoin and suckle it, if it is strong enough 
to raise itself from the ground for this purpose. If the animal ir 
almost exhausted, he must catch the ewe, and assist her to suckle 
the lamb. It will soon revive, and her love for it will roA'ive too 
If she merely gives a careless look of I'ecognition, he must suckle tht 
lamb from his bottle of ewe's milk, and leave it for a while ; perhap- 
her affection will return when her Tidder begins to be distended wit*- 
milk: if not, he must drive her with others into a fold, and, suffering" 
the rest to escape, try every means to induce her to let the little out- 
Buck. There may be considerable difficulty in this at first, but, by 
the exercise of some patience and tact, he will generally succeed 
After rfll, however, he will probably have some lambs upon his hand? 
for whom he can not find a mother, or whose own mother will no» 
suckle them. 

On the other hand, he will find some ewes who are gazing mourn- 
fully on their dead lambs. With some contrivance he will generally 
find in her a fostei--mother for one of his abandoned ones. He ties 
a piece of cord round the hind feet of the dead lamb, and the mother, 
if she has not been unnecessarily frightened .by the lamb or his dog, 
will follow for miles with her nose close to the lamb, and may be led 
wherever the shepherd chooses. 

AFFECTION IN THE EWE FOR HER LAMB. 

The Ettrick Shepherd tells another dtory of the continued affection 
of the ewe for her dead lamb. "One of the two years while I re- 
mained on the farm at Willenslee a severe blast of snow came on by 
night, about the latter end of April, which destroyed several scores 
of our lambs, and as we had not enow of twins and odd lambs for the 
mothers that had lost theirs, of course we selected the best ewes and 
put lambs to them. As we were making the distribution, I requested 
of my master to spare me a lamb for a ewe which he knew, and 
which was standing over a dead lamb in the end of the hope, about 
four miles from the house. He would not let me do it, but bid me 
let her stand over her lamb for a day or two, and perhaps a twir 
would be forthcoming. I did so, and faithfully she did stand to hei 
charge. I visited her every morning and evening for the first eight 
days, and never found her above two or three yards from the lamb ; 
and often as I went my rounds, she eyed me long ere I came near 
her, and kept stamping with her foot, and whistling through her nose, 
to frighten away the dog. He got a regular chase twice a day as I 
passed by ; but however excited and fierce a ewe may be, she never 
cffers any resistance to mankind, being perfectly and meekly passive 
t » them. 

" The weather grew fine and warm, and the dead lamb soon de- 
cayed ; but still ihrs affectionate and desolate creature kept hanging 
over the poor remains w,h an attachment that seemed to be nourish 



THE SlllSTITUTE LAMB. 123 

<d by hopelessness. It often drew tlie tears from my eyes to see hei 
hanging with such fondness over a few bones, mixed witli a small 
portion of wool. For the first fortnight she never quitted the spot; 
and for another week she visited it every morning and evening, ut- 
tering a few kirully and heart-jMercing bleats ; till at length, every 
remnant of her offspring vanished, mixing with the soil, or wafted 
away by the winds." 

THE SUBSTITUTE LAMB. 

The bereaved and affectionate ewe is induced to follow the remains 
of her little one to the lambing pound, or to some other convenient 
place. A lamb that has lost, or been abandoned by its mother is then 
selected. The head, tail, and legs of the dead lamb are cut off — an 
incision is made along the belly, and the body turned out, and this 
skin is then drawn over the substitute lamb. The body of the dead 
lamb is opened, the liver taken out, and the head and legs of the 
living lamb, and what other parts the skin does not cover, are 
smeared with the blood. In the darkness of the night, and after the 
skin has been warmed on it, so as to give something of the smell of 
her own progeny, the substitute is put to the bereaved ewe. In the 
majority of rases the fraud is altogether successful, and the impostor 
is at once received, and fondled and suckled. This being effected, 
the shepherd hastens to remove the false clothing ; the lamb is re- 
turned to her, and "whether it is from joy at this apparent i-eanima- 
tion of her young one, or because a little doubt remains on her mind, 
which she would fain dispel, can not be decided ; but for a number 
of days she shows more fondness by bleating over and caressing this 
one, than she did formerly over the one that was really her own." 

If she does not take to it at first, she must be compelled to suckle 
it, and confined, so that she shall not be able to kick or otherwise 
hurt it. In two or three days she will generally own it, and then 
they may be turned together into the field without any apprehen- 
sion or trouble. 

Care should, however, be taken, that the age of the substitute 
Iamb and that of the true one should correspond as much as possi- 
ble. If a lamb lately dropped is put to a ewe whose young one 
would have been a week or two old, the milk will be too strong, and 
a purging will be set up, which, probabl}^ no medicine can arrest. 
On the other hand, if the substitute lamb is a week or two old, and 
the foster-mother had lost hers in the act of yeaning, her milk will 
be injurious on account of that purgative quality by which the intes 
tines of the newly-dro])ped lamb aie first excited to action. Some- 
times the foster-lamb, frightiened or exhausted, will not readily take 
the teat, however disposed the ewe may be to adopt and feed it, 
Cai'e should be taken to ascertain whether this is tlie case, and, if 
necessary, the lamb should be held while a little of the milk is 
pressed into its mouth from the udder. This will rarely need to be 
repeatel, for instinct will teach it where to seek and how to obtain 
ita proper nurnraent. 



124 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 



AFTER-CARE OF THE LAMBS. 



Til the course of a little move than a week, tlie great majority of 
the ewes will liave produced their young, and the lambcr will have 
more leisure for those cases which particularly require his attention. 
The twin-field will particularly demand his care. He will seldom 
enter it on the rnorjiincr vvithout finding some degree of confusion. 
Some of the lambs will have strayed from or been abandoned by 
their mothers ; and these twin-mothers are sometimes noc a little 
capricious, and especially when, not having suflicient milk for the 
cv/o, they are teased and worried by the incessant sucking of the 
twins. In such case they will, in the most determined and furious 
manner, repulse one of them. Amid the intermingling of the ofi*- 
spring of the different ewes, he will find the advantage of having 
marked the respective twins, and thus, although not always without 
regularly drawing them off", he will be enabled properly to separate 
the respective families : he will relieve the weekly ewe from a bui- 
den which she can not support; and, on the other hand, he will rec- 
oncile the deserted little one to its unnatural parent, or find a better 
mother for it. The ewes with their single lambs will not, after a few 
days, require any extraordinary degree of trouble, but those with 
twins must be carefully watched, at least until the lambs begin in 
good earnest to graze. Many a lamb has been stinted in his growth, 
and irreparably injured, by the insufficient supply of milk which the 
ewe with twins can aff"ord. 

TWINS. 

This is the pi-oper place to speak of the desirableness of having 
many twins. Most breeders are partial to them, on account of the 
apparent rapid increase of the flock, or the additional quantity of 
lambs that can be prepared for the market. The question depends 
entirely on the quantity of land which the farmer holds, and the na- 
ture of the soil. If he has pasture enough, and good enough, twins 
are highly desirable ; for at only the usual expense before the yean- 
ing time, the number of his lambs is doubled, and, the pasture being 
good and the lambs well fed, there will be very little difference in 
health, condition, or value, between the twins and the single lamb. 

The ewe seldom has twins at her first yeaning; and it is fortunate 
that she has not; for it is seldom that she has any great supply of 
milk then, and, consequently, the mother and her offspi-ing would 
equally suflPer. Tlie twins are generally obtained from ewes that are 
three, four, or five years old. The disposition to twinning is un- 
doubtedly hereditary. There are certain rams that have the credit 
of being twin-getters, and that faculty usually descends to their off"- 
gpring; but this is ofterjer the case with regard to the ewe, agreea- 
bly to the old couplet : — 

" Ewes, yearly by twinning, ricn masters do make : 
The lambs of such twinners for breeders go take." 

The female of every species of animal has far more to Jo with this 
unusual multiplication of the offspring than has the male; and the 



THE MANAGEMENT OF THE LAMBS. \2S 

fai'inei who wishes vapidly to increase his stock through the mt.dium 
cf twins, may go some way toward the accomplishment of his rjbject 
by placii;<r his ewes on somewhat better pasture, or allowing them a 
few turnips when November approaches. 

THE MANAGEMENT OF THE LAMBS. 

We return once more to the lambs, now a few days old. The old 
ewes will prove assiduous and faithful nurses, but the young ones 
will occasionally wander from their lambs, and prove inattentive to 
or have not recognised their bleatings. Such mothers must be sep- 
arated from the flock, and folded and confined with their young ones, 
until they appear to be disposed faithfully to do their duty. Some 
lambs refuse the attention of the mother, and lie weak or sullen, 
and droop away and die. Some of the mother's milk should be fre- 
quently inti-oduced into the mouth ; and if that has not the desired 
effect, a foster-mother must, if possible, be found ; o.. the little churl 
must be brouglit up by the hand. There will, gener.illy speaking, 
be very little difficulty about this. If it is at first fed with warm 
sheep or cow's milk, by means of a spoon, until it is old enough to 
Buck out of a sucking-bottle, it Avill soon begin to bleat for its food, 
and greedily meet the bottle the moment that it is presented to it. 

The aiclwo lambs will require the particular attention of the shep- 
herd. They are those that are dropped from the middle of April or 
the beginning of May, when the cuckoo is just making his appear- 
ance, and after whom they are named. They are usually the pro- 
geny of very young or very old mothers, who were not impregnated 
so soon as the others, and who generally are not so strong and so 
hardy as the rest of the flock. Care must be taken that they have 
sufficient, yet not too nutritive food ; and that the diseases to which 
weakly lambs are subject are promptly attended to. 

Some ewes will permit other lambs beside their own to suck them, 
and then there will possibly be one or more greedy lambs, who will 
wander about from ewe to ewe, robbing the rightful owner of the 
greater part of his share. He and his motTier must be removed to an 
other pasture, where he will soon learn to satisfy his voracious ap- 
petite with the grass. 

As the shepherd takes his round he should inspect every lamb. If 
one does not appear to thrive, he should endeavor to ascertain the 
cause. Has the mother any or sufficient milk % h.Y>- the tefiij fi.-^e 
from disease % He should either supply the deficient nutriment, or 
provide a foster-mother. 

Does the milk disagree with the lamb? Is there any, or considei*- 
able purging % The calves and sheep's cordial must be immediate- 
ly resorted to; and, if necessary, imrsing, or separation from tno 
mother. 

In two or three weeks, and often considerably sooner, the lambs 
will begin to nibl)le a little grass. Is it too luxuriant foi them, oi 
has it been eaten down close by the ewes, and is the owner thinking 
of providing afresh pasture ? Let him beware! There is no situa- 
tion in whicli the ol " advice rf not making " more Ifaste and good 



126 YOUATT ON SHEEr. 

speed" should be more caiefiilly heeded than in this. If one para- 
•Bouut cause of disease, and fatal disease to lambs, were selected, it 
would be a sudden change from bare to luxuriant pasture. It often 
sets up a degree of inflamniatcuy fever, which no depletion will ex- 
tinguish, or a diarrhoea which no astringent can check. 

The technical term which the shepherd applies to the lamb diseased 
fi"om this cause is gall-Jamb. The liver seems to be the principal 
seat of inflammation, and a great quantity of bile or gall is found in 
the duodenum and small intestines ; a portion of it has frequently 
regurgitated into the abomasum or fourth stomach, and some has 
entered into the circulation, and tinged the skin and flesh of a yellow 
color. It is a disease which very speedily runs its course ; occasion- 
ally carrying off its victims in a little more than twelve hours, and 
seldom lasting more than three days. Immediate bleeding in the 
early stage, and afterward Epsom salts, with a small portion of gin- 
ger, will afford the only chance of a cure. The poor animal is often 
condemned and slaughtered at once — that is barbarous work. 

CASTRATION. 

There is a great difference of opinion as to the time when the tup- 
lambs that are not intended to be kept for breeding should be cas- 
trated. Some recommend the performance of this operation as early 
as thiee days after the birth. , Mr. Parkinson says that " he has 
several times cut a lamb the very day that it was lambed, whec 
strong and healthy, and that he never knew one do ill from the ope- 
ration." The proper period depends a great deal on the weather 
and on the stoutness of the lamb, and varies from the third or fourth 
to the fourteenth or twenty-first day, the weather being cool or even 
cold, and somewhat moist. It would be highly improper and dan- 
gerous to select a day unusually warm fur the season of the year. 
The absence of unusual warmth, and the health of the animal to be 
operated upon, are the circumstances which should have most influ- 
ence in determining the time. 

There are two methods of performing the operation. The lamb 
being well secured, the operator grasps the scrotum or bag, and 
forces the testicles down to the bottom of it. He then cuts a slit 
across the bottom of the bag. in a direction from behind forward, 
through the substance of the bag, and large enough to admit of the 
escape of the testicles. They immediately protrude through the in- 
cision, being forced down by the pressure above. The operator then 
seizes one of them, and draws it so far out of the bag that a poition 
of the cord is seen ; and then, if he is one of the old school, he seizes 
the cord between his teeth and gnaws through it. This is a very 
iilthy practice, and inflicts some unnecessary pain. The testicle be- 
ing thus separated, the cord retracts into the scrotum, and is no more 
seen. The other testicle is then brought out and opei-ated upon in 
a similar manner. Very little bleeding ensues — and the young ^ne 
may be returned to its mother. An improvement on this operac-on, 
and which any one except of the lowest grade would adopt, is to use 
a blunt knife instead of the teeth. Ey the sawing action which such 



CASTRATI0^7. 127 

a knife renders necessary the artery is even more completely torn 
than with the teeth ; and yet without so much bruising of the part, 
and probability of ensuing inflammation. It is by the laceration, 
instead of simple division of the cord, that after-bleeding is pre- 
vented 

Atiother way of performing the operation is to push the testicles 
up toward the belly, and then, grasping the scrotum, to cut off h 
sufficient portion of the bottom of the bag to admit of the escape of 
the testicles when they are again let down. They are, one after the 
other, pushed out, and taken off in the manner already directed. 
The wound is considerably longer in healing when the base of the 
bag i*^ thus cut away, and the animal consequently suffers more pain. 
The first is the pi'eferablo way, if the incision is made sufficiently 
long to prevent its closure for two or thrfee days, thus leaving an 
outlet for the escape of the blood and pus from the inside of the bag. 

There is usually little or no danger attending the operation, and 
yet occasionally it is strangely fatal. In a whole ffock not a single 
lamb will sometimes be lost; but at other times the deaths will be 
fearfully numerous, the same person having operated on both occa- 
sions. Much, probably, depended on some peculiar state of the 
atmosphere, of the actual nature of which we know nothing at all i 
and more probably might be connected with a disposition to inflam- 
mation in the patient proceeding from too high feeding, or from a 
debilitated state of the frame, and which had not been observed or 
properly estimated. 

When fatal disease occijrs after* castration it usually assumes the 
form of tetanus, or locked-jaw. The village operator pretends to 
tell when this will or will not supervene. The usual struggles of the 
animal, or the usual expressions of pain, he does not regard : but 
when, as he is gnawing the cord asunder with his teeth, he feels a 
deep and universal shudder of the animal, he says at once that that 
lamb will die. He is often right about this, and when he is, it can 
be easily explained. By the fearful torture he has inflicted, he has 
caused a shock of the whole nervous system, from which the poor 
sufferer can never perfectly recover. 

Occasionally, when the lamb that was selected as a breeder does 
not turn out well, it is necessary, in order to fatten him and to make 
his flesh saleable, to castrate him. There are various ways of per- 
forming this operation on the young or fully adult sheep. Some 
proceed precisely as with the horse. An incision is made into the 
scrotum ; the testicle is forced out, the iron clams are put on the 
cord, which is then divided between the clam and the testicle, and 
the cautery is had recourst '^o in order to sear the part and prevent 
bleeding. This operation usually succeeds well, but it is not every 
operator on sheep that has the clams or the firing-iron. 

The preferable way of operating, is, to tie a waxed cord as tightly 
as possible round the scrotum a'bove, and quite clear of the testicles, 
The circulation will here also be completely stopped, and usually in 
two or three days the scrotum and the testicles will drop off". Acci- 
dents tave occurred, but which are afributable to the operator: he 



128 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

has included a portion of the testicle in the ligature, and thus laid 
tlie foundation for very great and fatal inflammation ; or he has used 
loo large a cord, and which could not be drawn sufficiently tight; or 
the knot has slackened, and the ligature has pressed sufficiently to 
])roduce excessive inflammation and torture, but not completely to 
cut off the supply of blood. Care being taken in the application of 
the cord to the exact part, and the tightening of the ligature, the ani 
mal seems scarcely to suffer any pain ; indeed, the nerves are evi- 
dently deadened by the compression of the cord, and no accident 
occurs. 

DOCKING. 

There is much variety of opinion among sheepmasters as to the 
lime when this operation should be performed. Some, like Mr. 
Parkinson, think that it should be done within a very few days after 
the birth : the ewes on the first, second, or third day, and the male 
lambs when they are castrated. The author of the '* Comolete Gra- 
zier" would defer it until the lambs are three or four months old. 
T^is must depend on the state of the weather, and the health of the 
animals. No one should dock his lambs when the weather is very 
cold, because the bushy tails of the animals afford a great deal of 
warmth. On this account, in particularly exposed situations, it ia 
deferred until the warm weather sets thoroughly in, and by scjme, 
and particularly with their ewes, not practised at all. The tail cer- 
tainly affords both protection and warmth to the udder, and likewise 
defence against the dreadful annoyance of the flies in hot weather; 
but, on the other hand, it permits the accumulation of a great deal 
of filth, and, if the lamb or the sheep should labor under diarrhoea, 
and the shepherd should be somewhat negligent, the tail may cling 
to the haunches, and that so closely as to form an almost insuperable 
obstruction to the passage of the faeces. It likewise can scarcely be 
denied that the removal of the tail very much improves the beauty 
of the animal, by the fulness and width which it seems to impart to 
the haunches. 

The operation is a very simple one. An assistant holds the lamb 
with its back pressing against his belly, and thus presenting the 
haunches to the operatoi", who, with a knife, or a strong pair of scis- 
sors or forceps, cuts it off at the second or thiid joint from the rump. 
A few ashes are then sprinkled on the wound — common fluur would 
do as well, in order to form a coagulum over the part and stop the 
bleeding. It is seldom that the bleeding will continue long; but. if 
the lamb should appear to be growing weak in consequence of the 
loss of blood, a piece of twine tied tig'.itiy round the tail, immedi- 
ately above the dock, will at once arrest the hemorrhage : the twine, 
however, must be removed twelve hours afterward, otherwise sonie 
slourrhing will ensue, and care must likewise be taken that the incis- 
ion is made precisely in the joint, otherwise the wound will not heal 
imtil the portion of bone between tl dojk and the joint above ha« 
sloughed away. 



129 



GARGET. 



The shepherd, and especially in the early period of sucklnicr 
should observe whether any ot' the ewes are restless and exhibit 
symptoms of pain when the lambs are sucking, or will not permit 
them to suck at all. The ewe, like the cow, or oftener than that 
animal, is subject to inflammation of the udder during the time of 
suckling, caused either by tlie hardness or dryness of the soil on 
which she lies, or, on the other hand, by its too great moisture or 
Slth, or by some tendency to general inflammation, and determined 
.() the udder by the bumps and bruises, sometime.'i not a little severe, 
/rom the head of the lamb. 

If there is any refusal on the part of the ewe, or even disinclination 
to permit the young one to suck, she must be caught and examined. 
There will generally be found redness, and enlargement, and tender- 
ness, of one or both of the teats, or sometimes of the whole of the 
udder, and several small distinct kernels or tumors on different parts 
of the bag. The udder should be cleared from the wool which sur- 
rounds it, and should be well fomented with warm water a do^e 
of Epsom salts administered, and then, if there are no large and dis- 
tinct knots or kernels, she should be returned to her lamb, whose 
sucking and knocking about of 'he udder will contribute, more than 
any other means, to the dispersion of the tumor and the regular flow 
of milk. It may occasionally be necessary to confine her in a j^en 
with her little one, in order that he may have a fair chance to suck. 

A day, however, having passed, and she not permitting it to suck, 
the lamb must betaken away; the fomentation renewed, and an 
ointment, composed of a dram of camphor rubbed down with a 
few drops of spirit of wine, a dram of mercurial ointment, and an 
ounce of elder ointment, well incorporated together, must be rubbed 
into the affected part, or the whole of the udder, two or three times 
every day. She must also be bled, and the physic repeated. If the 
udder should continue to enlarge, and the heat and tenderness should 
increase, and the knots or kernels become more numerous and of 
greater size, and some of them should begin to soften or evidentlv 
to contain a fluid, no time must be lost, for this disease is abundantly 
more rapid in its progress in the sheep than in the cow. A deep incis- 
ion must be made into that part of the udder where the swellings arcs 
ripest, the pus or other matter squeezed out, and tlie part well fo- 
mented again To this should succeed a weak solution of the chlo- 
ride of lime, with which the ulcer should be well bathed two or three 
times in the day. When all fetid smell ceases, and the wound looks 
healthy, the friar's balsam may be substituted for the chloride of 
lime. 

Tlie progiess of disorganization and the process of healing are 
almost incredibly rapid in these cases, and the lamb may sometimes 
be returned to the mother in the course of a few days. Both teals 
may possibly be well, or if but one is perfectly restored to its natu- 
ral lunction, there will be sufficient milk for the support of the young 
one. That season having been got thiough, it will be prudent-- 

9 



130 YOUATT OX SHEEP. 

sxcej)! the ewe is an exceedingly favorite one — t fatten her for 
the butcher ; for there will always be a tendency to the recurrence 
of the disease, and a very slight cause will excite it. There are par- 
ticular seasons, especially warm and damp ones, and when there ia 
a su])erfluity of grass, in which garget is peculiarly frequent and 
fatal. Without warning, the udder swells universally with hardened 
knobs, which sometimes bring on great inflammatio)i, and if that is 
not stopped in the course of twenty-four hours, part, if not the whole, 
of the udder mortifies, and the mortification rapidly spreads, and the 

sheep dies. 

SPAYING. 

A few weeks after this the spaying of the rejected ewe-lamhs will 
succeed, an operation which will materially contribute to their in- 
crease of growth and disposition to fatten. It is singular that this 
practice should be almost confined to Great Britain and to Italy, for 
theie can be no manner of doubt of the advantage of it. Dauben- 
t(/n, however, in his "Instructions to Shepherds," gives a useful 
account of the manner in which it is best performed. 

At the age of six weeks, the ovaries are grown sufficiently large 
to be easily felt, and that is the time usually selected for the spaying, 
being immediately after the first formal examination of the flock. 
The lamb is laid on her right side, near the edge of a table, with her 
head hanging down by the side of the table; an assistant stretches 
out the left hind leg of the animal, and holds it in that situation, with 
:his left hand grasp.ing the shank ; and in default of a second assist- 
ant, he also holds the two foi'elegs, and the other hind leg with his 
right hand. The lamb being thus disposed, the operator, tightening 
the skin of the part, makes an incision of an inch and a half in 
length, midway between the top of the haunch and the navel, 
and penetrating througn the skin ; another incision divides the 
muscles of the belly and the peritoneum. A careful operator will, 
perhaps, m.ake three incisions, the first through the skin, the sec- 
ond through the abdominal muscles, and the third through the 
peritoneum. He then introduces his forefinger into the abdomi- 
nal cavity, in search of the left ovary, which is immediately under- 
neath the incision; and, having found it, he draws it gently out 
The two broad ligaments, and the womb and the right ovary, pro- 
trude at the same time. The operator cuts off" the two ovaries, an(3 
returns the womb and its dependencies; he then closes the won/b 
by means of two or three stitches through the skin, carefully avoid- 
ing the abdominal muscles below ; and, last of all, he rubs a little 
oil on the wound, or he does nothing more, but releases his patient. 

The lamb very probably will be unwilling, and perhaps will alto 
gether refuse to suck or to graze during the first day, but on the fol 
lowing days he will feed as usual. In ten or twelve days the wound 
will have perfectly healed, and the threads may be cut and taken away. 
The oidy thing to be feared is inflammation of the peritoneum which 
was divided in the operation ; but this rarely occurs, and, on the 
whole, there is not so much danger in the spaying of the ewe-lamb 
as in ihe castration of the tup. 



WKANING. 131 



WEANING. 



The time of weaning diftcrs materially, accoiding to tlie kcality 
of the farms and the quality of the pasture. In a mountainous coun- 
try, and where the land is poor, the weaning often takes place wlien 
the lamb is not more than three months old, for it requires all the in- 
termediate time to get the ewes in good condition by the time of 
hlossoming, or to prepare them for the market. In a milder climate, 
and on better pasture, they need not to be weaned until four months 
old, and that is about tlie period usually selected. On the other 
hand, if the pasture is good, and especially if it is the system or the 
interest of the farmer to sell his lambs in store condition, they fi-e 
qucntly are not weaned until they are six months old. It is very 
easy to imagine of w'hat advantage a few of these spayed wethers, 
of which mention has just been made, would be to afford a plentiful 
supply of milk both for the early and the late weaning time. Noth- 
ing would so materially contribute to get the lambs into good heart 
and strength, when they were early taken from their mothers ; or to 
make them, what may be termed " prime for sale," as a plentiful 
supply of ewe's milk, even although it might be necessary to force 
it upon them with the horn. 

The first thing to be attended to is, to remove the lambs and the 
ewes as far as possible from each other. There will be plenty of 
confusion and unhappiness for a while, and which would be pro- 
longed until it was injurious to both the mother and the offspri-ng if 
they were able to hear each other's bleating; indeed, it would fre- 
quently happen that the ewe could not be confined in her pasture if 
she heard the continued cries of lier young one. Two or three days 
nefore they are intended to be parted, the ewes and the lambs should 
oe removed to the pasture which the latter are afterward to occupy, 
and then, in che evening of the appointed day, the ewes are to be 
driven away, probably to ihe pasture which they had occupied with 
their lambs, or if they are moved to another it should be a poorer 
and baier one. It will be advisable, although it is not always prac- 
tised, to milk them two or three times, in order to relieve their dis- 
tended udders, and to prevent an attack of inflammation or garget. In 
a day or two they will be tolerably quiet, or if any one should refuse 
her food, she should be caught and examined, and the state of her 
udder should be particularly obsei'ved. 

The management of the lambs will depend on the manner in which 
the farmer means to dispose of them ; but at all events, they should 
be turned on somewhat better pasture than that to which they had 
been accustomed, in order to compensate for the loss of the mother's 
milk. Many farmers are very fancifu' as to the provision for the 
weaned lambs. The clover, or the sainfoin, o\ the after-math, are 
selected by some; others put their smaller and more weakly lambs 
to weed the turnip crops ; but there can be nothing more desirable 
than a fresh pasture, not too luxuriant, and vet sufficient to maintain 
and ir :rease their condition. A great deal ^f caution is requisite 
here. The lamb must not be overgoiged, lest some acute disease 



132 VOUATT ON SHEE" 

should speedily carry him off; oji the other hand, he must not b» 
suffered to decline, for if he does he will rarely recover his condition, 
however good the keep may afterward be. 

THE DISEASES OF LAMBS, 

The greater part of these have- been already hinted at, as the dis- 
eases of the different functions passed under consideration. 

One of the most fatal is diarrhoea, arising from cold, or from some 
fault in the mother's milk, or from the new stimulus of the grass 
when the lamb first begins to crop it, or from its overpov/ering stim- 
ulus at the time at which we are now arrived — the weaning time — 
and when it ccjnstitutes the only food of the animal. Little can be 
added to the advice given on pages 102, 103, except that at weaning 
time the farmer must naturally expect that the bowels will be some- 
what disturbed, and he must not be too much alarmed about it. While 
the animal feeds and plays, and the countenance is cheerful, there is 
no danger; but when the eyes are heavy, and the step is slow and 
sluggish, and the wool begins to look unkindly, no time is to be lost. 
A gentle aperient is first indicated, in order to carry off any offensive 
matter that may have accumulated in and disturbed the bowels — 
half an ounce of Epsom salts, with half a dram of ginger, will con- 
stitute the best aperient that can be administei'ed. To that must be 
added the sheep's cordial, and housing and nursing. 

The next disease to be mentioned is one of a mingled character. 
The milk of the mother is no sooner received into the true stomach 
— the abomasum — of the lamb, than, by the action of the gastric 
juice, it undergoes a sudden change; a portion of it is converted 
into firm cui'd, while the other retains its liquid form, but is altered 
in character and is become ivJiey. When either the milk or the 
stomach of the lamb is not in a healthy state, this change takes place 
in a more decisive manner; the curd is hardened, and retained, and 
sometimes accumulates to a strange extent; and the whey, pressed 
out in greater quantity, finds its way quickly through the bowels, and 
gives an appearance of purging of a light color. In the natural and 
healthy state of the milk and the stomach, this curd afterward gradu- 
ally dissolves, and is converted into chyme ; but when the one takes on 
a morbid hardness, and the other may have lost a portion of its en- 
ergy, the stomach is sometimes literally filled with curd, and all its 
functions suspended. The animal labors under seeming purging 
from the quantity of whey discharged, but the actual disease is con- 
stipation. It is apt to occur about the time when the lamb begins to 
graze, and when the function of the stomach is naturally somewhat 
deranged. 

This coagulation of the milk is produced by the gastric juice, and 
the accumulation of the coagulated mass is to be traced to the sud- 
denly increased power of this fluid when a new species of food, and 
more difficult of^ digestion, begins to be received. Mr. Parkinson 
orders some runnct — the preserved gastric juice of the calf — to be 
mixed with more milk, and pouied down as rapidly as possible; for 
being thus intioducec into the stomach in an unchanged state, h« 



THE DISEASES Ol' EASIBS. 132 

imagines that it will intermix with the food and produce x regular 
and healthy digestion. The contrary must, of necessity, take place, 
foi' the additional quantity of runnet will still more harden the milk, 
81,. 1 the death of the animal w-11 be rendeied more certain. 

The existence of this coagu^ltion may be suspected, when a lamb 
that has been apparently healthy, and the mother yielding a sufficient 
quantity of good milk, is evidently distressed, begins to heave at the 
Hanks, can scai-cely be induced to move, has its belly considerably 
swelled, and is either quite costive, or there is a discharge of whitisli 
whey-like faeces. The stomach has occasionally been found per- 
fectly filled with this curd, and which has weighed three or four pounds. 
The only chance of saving the lamb consists in dissolving this coag- 
ulum. The runnet of Mr. Parkinson would harden it still more. 
Chymistry teaches that, while a free acid produces coagulaticm of 
the mi]k, an alkali will dissolve that coaguUim. Magnesia, there- 
fore, should be administered, suspended in thin gruel, or ammonia 
largely diluted with water, and with these should be combined Ep- 
som salts to hurry the dissolved mass along, and ginger to excite the 
stomach to a more powerful contraction. Read's stomach-pump 
will be found a most valuable auxiliary here. A perseverance in the 
use of these means will sometimes be attended with success, and the 
little patient being somewhat relieved, the lamb and the mother 
should be moved to somewhat baser pasture. 

Costivcness. — It is generally connected with a bare and dry state 
of the pasture. The existence of it having been clearly ascertained 
— there not being, on the one hand, any mechanical obstruction from 
the wool of the tail being glued over the fundament ; nor, on the 
other hand, any evacuation of small drops of liquid fccces, accom- 
panied by violent straining ; the case must be immediately attended 
to, for it will generally be connected with a degree of fever that may 
be exceedingly dangerous. Half-ounce doses of the Epsom salts, in 
solution, should be administered every six hours until the bowels are 
well evacuated ; after which the lamb and the mother should be 
turned into more succulent pasture. 

Fever, and In-flammatory Fever. — The lamb is very subject to 
fever, rapidly degenerating into inflammatory fever. It is sudden in 
ita attack, and usually confined to the best-conditioned and most 
thriving lambs in the flock. If taken in time, the loss of a little 
blood, or the administration of a tolerable dose of Epsom salts, will 
generally arrest the malady in its co^mmencement. 

In some cases, and when the lamb has been hurried on too fastly foi 
the early market, the stage of simple fever will scarcely be recognised, 
but the animal will be taken all at once with what is termed " stag' 
gers." It is precisely the same inflammatory fever which is recog- 
nised by the term "blood" in cattle. An hour before, the animal 
seemed to have been in perfect health ; then, almost without warn- 
ing, he becomes evidently ill ; the head is protruded, and the walk 
is staeffrerinsr, or the lamb stands still, unable to walk at all : and 

. . • nil — 

then he falls, and struggles a little while, and dies. 1 he whole nocK 
l;eing exposed to the same exciting cause, and the mysterious, and 



ens 



134 YOLATT ON SHEEP. 

powerful, although unsuspected, influence of sympathy being at work 
it seems to run tlirough tlie fluck like wild-fire, and a dozen of then 
have been lost, in less than as many hours. The lancet, physic, and 
coraparativo starvation, will afford the oidy means of cure or pre- 
vention. 

SORTING OF THE LAMBS. 

Soon after the weaning-time, and before the operation of spaying 
commences, the ewes and the lambs of the whole flock should be 
carefully examined, in order to draft out of it those that are past ser- 
vice, and the younger ones that do not promise to be any acquisition 
to the flock. In a breeding stock this is absolutely necessary, but in 
•A. jiijing stock, ov that in which the ewes and the lambs are usually 
sold befoie the termination of the year, this may be dispensed with ; 
for if a flock is kept merely for the sake of obtaining an annua,! profit 
on the purchase, it is of little consequence whether the sheep are or 
are not well bred, provided they rear their lambs and get into mar- 
ketable condition afterward. 

It is altogether a different thing with the breeder of sheep. His 
object is to maintain the purity and acknowledged excellence of his 
flock, and therefore it is necessary for him every year to draft, that 
is, to set aside for immediate fattening and sale, a greater or less 
number, and often a considerable number of his young and old stock. 

It can scarcely be supposed that there will be any flock in which 
a great number will not degenerate from the standard of excellence 
which the breeder had established in his own mind. 

The lambs are now particularly under consideration. The sheep- 
master is, or ought to be, enabled from long practice to form a sufficient- 
ly accurate opinion of the future make and properties and value of 
the lambs ; and a little after the weaning is the most convenient and 
proper time for this examination. 

The first object of the owner of the flock is to select a sufliicient 
number of ewe-lambs to fill up the deficiencies caused by the death 
of some of his ewes, and the barrenness of others. The principle by 
which he will be guided is a very simple one. By careful manage- 
ment his flock has assumed a certain character. It possesses certain 
points in which, in his opinion, the value of the breed mainly con- 
sists. Then he will immediately draft or condemn every ewe-lamb 
that is manifestly deficient in these points, and which are sometimes 
not a little arbitrary. Some breeders (but their number is decreasing) 
may look to considerable largeness of bone, and, consequently, of 
carcass; they may connect this with the supposed advantage, but 
often real inconvenience, of large joints. Others regard the early 
disposition to fatten — others, again, the tendency to produce twins — 
nd a fourth party may chiefly look to the quality and the «iuantlly 
of the wool. Tliey a]-e all good points, and the soil, or the market, 
or various other circumstances, must determine which should be the 
primary object of pursuit. The lamb that is manifestly deficient in 
those points should immediately be drafted. 

l\ hhough tl'.e breeder may liave his attention mostly directed tc 



FRACTURES. Ili5 

one of these points, yet the lamb that promises to excel in all, or iiot 
to be manifestly deficient iu either, will be promptly selected ; and as 
the soil and the climate will favoi-one of these characters more than the 
others, he will incline to the sheep that seems to possess that cliaracter. 

The possession of these points, however, will not obtain the ewe- 
lamb a certain exemption from the draft; for the sheep-owner will 
still further examine whether tliis good quality is counterbalanced or 
neutralized by any glaring defects regarding some other of these 
qualities, or by any defects at all ; and one glaring defect should con 
demn her, although she may be faultless in every otlier respect. The 
defects, as well as the excellences of the parent, are transmitted to 
the offspring. 

The different districts of the country contain a sheep of a certain 
and decided character. That character may be improved, but can 
never, with advantage, be essentially changed. It may be connected 
with one or two, or with all of the principal excellences of the sheep. 
Then comes the consideration — is there any point about the animal 
under consideration, that is directly opposed to the characteristic ex- 
cellence of that district? If so, whatever other good points the ani- 
mal may possess, it has no right to belong to that flock. The general 
health, appetite, and growth, should be taken into consideration, and 
perhaps peculiarities of color will not be quite overlooked. 



CHAPTER X. 

Diseases of the Locomotive Organs. — The Scab-Lice and Ticks. — The Fly 

A VERY great alteration has taken place, during the last half oen 
tury, in the size and weight of the bones of sheep. This has beeis 
the effect of culture, which, by improving the breeds, has reducea 
materially the quantity of bones, while the wool and flesh have been 
improved both in quantity and quality. Every improvenient pushed 
too far degenerates into a defect ; and cases are somewhat numerous 
in which the smallness of the bones has been carried to such a de- 
gree, as to produce a very objectionable delicacy and tenderness of 
constitution. There might have been formerly, and certaiidy there 
was, too great a proportion of bone for the meat ; but on the other 
liand, it has been incontrovertibly proved that a strong constitution 
is not coinpatible with very small and delicate bones. 

The bones of the sheep are less compact than those of the horse 
or other cattle, and hence the greater liability of the sheep t*^ bony 
fractures. 

FRACTURES. 

The very circumstance that renders the bones of the sheep more 
nrittle, renders them also susceptible of a readier union after frac- 
ture. If the leg is broken, the divided edges of the bone should be 



l3o YOUATT ON SHEEP. * 

brought as Tieaily as possible into apposition, and confined by a te\\ 
splintH, and in the course of" a few days new bone will have been 
secreted, and the fracture repaired. Fracture of the shoulder will 
be successfully treated if the wool is entirely removed, and a pitch- 
piaster placed over the whole bone. 

SWELLINGS OF THE JOINTS. 

Lambs from two to five weeks old are very subject to them, and 
«he best remedy is warmth, and the diseased limb should be well 
washed in soap and water, and the sore rubbed with some caustic 
ointment. 

FOOT-ROT. 

Foot-rot is a disease which always at first, and usually throughout 
its whole course, is confined to the foot. The first indication of 
foot-i'ot is a certain degree of lameness in the animal. If he is 
caught and examined, the foot will be found hot and tender, the horn 
softer than usual, and there will be enlargement about the coronet, 
and a slight sepaiation of the hoof from it, with portions of the horn 
worn away, and ulcer? formed below, and a discharge of thin fetid 
matter. The ulcers, if neglected, continue to increase; they throw 
out fungous granulations : they separate the hoof more and more 
from the parts beneath, until at length it drops off. 

All this is the consequence of soft and marshy pasture. The 
mountain or the down sheep — the sheep in whose walk there is no 
poachy ground, if he is not actually exposed to infection by means 
of the virus — knows nothing at all aliout it; it is in the yielding soil 
of the low country that all the mischief is done. 

In attempting to explain this, the author can not do better than to 
have recourse to much of the beautifully-graphic description of the 
healthy foot of the sheep, and the changes which it undergoes, as 
given by his talented and excellent friend, Professor Dick, of 
Edinburgh. 

The foot presents a structure and arrangement of parts well 
adapted to the natural habits of the animal. It is divided into two 
digits, or toes, which are shod with a hoof composed of different parts, 
similar in many respects to the hoof of the horse. Each hoof is prin- 
cipally composed of the crust, or wall, and the sole. The crust, 
extending along the outside of the foot, x'ound the toe, and turning in- 
ward, is confined about half-way back between each toe on the inside. 
The sole fills the space on the inferior surface of the hoof between 
these parts of the crust, and being continued backward b'comes 
softer as it proceeds, assuming somewhat the structure of the sub- 
stance of the frog in the foot of the horse, and performing, at the 
same time, analogous functions. The whole hoof, too, is secreted 
fiom the vascular tissue underneath. 

Now, this diversity of structure is for particular purposes. The 
crust, like that in the hoof of the horse, being harder and tougher 
than the sole, keeps up a sharp edge on the outer margin, and is 
mainly intended to resist the wear-and-tear to which the foot of the 
animal is exposed. The soft pasturage on which the sheep is occa- 



FOOT-ROT. 13? 

iionally put, presents little, if any, of that rough friction to which 
the feet of the animal is naturally intended to be exposed. The 
crust, therefore, sffovvs unrestrained, until it either laps over the sole, 
like the loose sole of an old shoe, and serves to retain and accunnu- 
late earth and filth, or is broken off in detached parts ; in some cases 
exposing the quick and opening new pores, into which particles t)f 
eaith or sand force their way, until, reaching the (|uick, an inflam- 
mation is set up, which in its progress alters or destroys the whole 
foot. 

The finest and richest old pastures and lawns are particularly 
liable to give this disease, and so are soft, marshy, and luxuriant 
meadows. It exists, to a greater or less extent, in every situation 
that has a tendency to increase the growth of the hoofs without 
wearing them away. 

Sheep that are brought from an upland range of pasturage are 
more particularly subject to it. This is very easily accounted for. 
By means of the exercise which the animal was compelled to take 
on account of the scantier production of the upland pasture, and 
also in consequence of the greater hardness of the ground, the hoof 
was worn down as fast as it grew ; but on its new and moist habita- 
tion the hoofs not only continued to grow, but the rapidity of that 
growth was much increased, while the salutary friction which kept 
the extension of the foot within bounds was altogether removed. 
When the nails of the fingers or toes of the human being exceed 
their proper length, they give him so much uneasiness as to induce 
him to pare them, or if he neglects this operation they break. He 
can pare them after they have broken, and the inconvenience soon 
ceases, and the wound heals. When, however, the hoof of the 
sheep exceeds its natural length and thickness, that animal has no 
power to pare them down, but there long continues a wound, irri- 
tated, and induced to spread, by the exposure of its surface, and 
the introduction of foreign and annoying matters into it. 

The different parts of the hoof, likewise, deprived of their natural 
wear, grow out of their proper proportions. The crust, especially, 
grows too long; and the overgrown parts either break off" in irreg- 
ular rents, or, by overshooting the sole, allow small particles of sand 
and dirt to enter into the pores of the hoof. These particles soon 
reach the quick, and set up the inflammation already described, and 
followed by all its destructive effects. 

There is another circumstance which tends to produce disease in 
an overgrown hoof. Tlie length in w'lich the mvX gi '"•wr., cht.ngej 
completely the proper bearing of the fool, for, being extended for- 
ward, it takes the whole weight of the superincumbent parts. By 
the continual pressure on this lengthened part, inflammation can not 
fail oi ^ -^ing set up. The progress of the disease is not equally 
rapid in eveiy instance; sometimes it goes to a certain extent, and 
the foot to a considerable degree recovers. All the feet may not be 
equally affer'^ed ; the fore ones, however, are always the most liable 
to disease, on account of the additional weight which they carry. 
Somotimi^s there is only one foot affected, and that is sure to be a 



138 ' YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

fore (Hie — somelimes only one hoof of one foot; anjl occasiv ii-dFi) 
one speedily heals, while the other continues to get worse and 
worse. 

In the first stage of the disease, there is often found nothing but 
a little overshooting of the edge of the crust, and which is bent in 
upon the sole, or the edge of the crust is forced asunder fiom tho 
sole, and a wedge of earth is introduced which presses upon the 
sensible substance beneath ; but at other times the edge of the crust 
continues to grow until it envelops the whole of the sole. It is sel- 
dom that there is inflammation enough excited to throw off the 
whole hoof at once; but it separates at different parts, and at each 
part of separation there is new honi formed : this, although soft and 
unhealthy, and not capable of sustaining pressure, covers, and to a 
certain degree protects, the sensible parts beneath. By degrees, 
from increased and long-continued irritation, the parts are no longer 
able to seci'ete even this weak horn, but granulations of proud flesh 
sprout out, and then the work of destruction proceeds in good 
earnest. 

This is the usual progress of the disease ; but at other times in- 
fiammalion seems to be set up at once over the whole of that division 
of the foot, and there is considerable swelling about the coronet, and 
matter is formed and breaks out, and sinuses run in various direc- 
tions, and the whole of the hoof is gradually detached. The upper 
part of the space between the hoofs becomes inflamed and swelled 
the whole of the inner surface of the pasterns is sore and raw ; 
ulceration commences — it eats deeply — it spreads on every side — it 
spreads upward — and the toes are separated fz"om each other almost 
to the opening of the biflex canal. That canal becomes inflamed — 
proper inflammation of it is added to that of the sensible parts be- 
neath the hoof — the mucous follicles which it contains, and of which 
mention has been made, pour out a large quantity of sebaceous dis- 
charge, which flows over the forepart of the foot and between the 
hoofs, and assists in the accumulation of filth by its adhesiveness. 
In some cases, as has appeared when the diseased state of tliis canal 
was examined, the malady commences here. Inflammation of the 
biflex canal produces much enlargement of the neighboring parts, 
and the motions of the foot are interfered with, and inflammation 
and disorganization spread on every side. As these increase, and 
also the discharge by which they are accomjianied^ dirt, and gravel 
and pieces of grass, adhere to the ulcerated surface, and insinuate 
themselves between the pasterns, there soon becomes one uniform 
mass of disease. 

The ulceration of foot-rot will not long exist without the additional 
annoyance of the fly. Maggots will multiply on every part of the 
surface, and burrow in all directions. To this, as may be ddily 
supposed, will be added a great deal of constitutional '^ jlurbance. 
A degree of inflammatory fever is produced. The animal, for a 
while, shifts about upon its knees, attended by some faithful com 
panion that abandons it not in its utmost need ; but at length tt 
powers of nature fail, and it dies from irritation and want. 



FooT-noT. 139 

Thi:! is a Llreadful account, and yet, after all, the disease is more 
manageable than could well be imagined, if it is attacked in iis ear- 
liest stage and treated with proper decision. It will seldom be 
necessary, or, indeed, proper to adopt any means for the purpose of 
abating inflammation before the radical mode of cure is adopted. 
Poultices and emollients will only weaken the parts, and cause the 
fungous granulations to increase with tenfold rapidity. 

The foot must be carefully examined, and every portion of loose 
and detached horn pared off, even though the greater part, or almost 
the whole of the hoof may be taken away. The horn once separated 
from the parts beneath will never again unite with them, but become 
a foreign body, and a source of pain, inflammation, and fungous 
sproutings. This, then, is the first and fundamental thing — every 
portion of horn that is in the slightest degree separated from the j)art, 
beneath must he cut aicay. A small, sharp, curved-pointed knife, or 
a small drawing-knife, will be the best instrument to effect this. 

If there are any fungous granulations they must be cut down with 
the knife or a pair of sharp curved scissors, unless they are exceed- 
ingly minute, and then the caustic about to be mentioned will destroy 
them. The whole foot must be thoroughly cleaned, although it may 
occupy no little time, and inflict considerable pain on the animal. 
The after-expenditure of time, and the suffering of the patient, vvil 
be materially diminished by this decisive measure. 

The foot should then be washed with a solution of chloride of 
lime, in the proportion of one pound of the powder to a gallon of 
water. This will remove the fcetor, and tenlency to sloughing and 
mortification, which are the too frequent attendants on foot-rot. The 
muriate or butyr of antimony must then be resorted to, and by means 
of a small stick with a little tow tied round one of its extremities, 
applied to every denuded part : lightly where the surface has a 
healthy appearance, and more severely where fungous granulation? 
have been cut off", or there are small granulations springing up. There 
is no application comparable to this. It is effectual as a superficial 
caustic ; and it so readily combines with the fluids belonging to the 
part to which it is applied, that it quickly becomes diluted, and com- 
paratively powerless, and is incapable of producing any deep or cor- 
roding mischief. So far as these foot cases are concerned, it super- 
sedes every other application. The change of color in the part will 
accurately show to what portions it has been applied, and what effect 
has been produced. 

If the foot has been in a manner stripped of its horn, and, especial- 
ly, if a considerable portion of the sole has been removed, it may 
be exjiedient to wrap a little clean tow round the foot, and to bind 
it tightly down with tape, the sheep being removed to a straw-yard, 
or some enclosed place, or to a drier pasture. This last provision is 
absolutely necessary when the sheep is again turned out ; for if the 
foot is exposed to the original cause of disease, the evil will return 
under an aggravated form. 

The foot should be dressed every day ; each new separation of horn 
removed; and every portion of fungus submit ^d to the action of the 



1 40 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

saustic, with a degree of severity pioportioned to tht ne(essity uf 
the case. The new horn should likewise be examined. If it ap- 
pears to be healthy and tolerably firm, nothing should be done to 
it ; but if it is soft and spongy, the caustic must be lightly applied. 
The sooner the bandage can be removed, and the sheep turned into 
eonie upland or thoroughly dry pasture, the better will it be for the 
foot, and the health of the animal generally. 

The worst cases of foot-rot will readily yield to this mods of treat- 
ment, provided the bono has not been exposed, and there are no 
sinuses running either into the joints or deep-seated parts of the 
foot, or of the pasterns above. All superficial mischief will be readi- 
ly repaii'ed, and more speedily than could have been thought possi- 
ble ; but there is always a considerable degree of uncertainty when, 
the horn being removed, the ulcerations are found to be deep, and 
certain sinuses or openings betray the existence of greater mischief 
within the foot. The case will, at all events, occupy a considerable 
time, and give no little degree of trouble; and it will be for the owner 
to consider whether he had not better destroy the sheep if he is in 
tolerable condition, than to run the risk of his pining away, and ulti- 
mately sinking under long-continued and increasing suffering. 

The sheep that has been attacked by foot-rot should not be suffered 
o rejoin his companions while there is the slightest discliarge from 
any pait of the foot. This goes on the supposition that the foot-rot 
may not only be produced by the causes that have been inentioned, 
but that the discharge from the sores and sinuses is of an infectious 
nature. Some valuable writers, and Professor Dick among the 
number, have denied the infectiousness of foot-rot. They find suffi- 
cient reason for the spreading of this disease through a whole flock, 
from all the animals having been exposed to the same exciting cause; 
the feet of all of them having been macerated by the soft and damp 
pasture on which they have ti'odden, and the internal part of the foot 
being thus denuded and injured. 

There are many flocks, with regard to which it would be idle to 
ieek for the cause of foot-rot in infection ; but the fair question is, 
have there not been repeated instances in which a diseased sheep has 
been admitted into a flock that had hitherto been sound, and on pas- 
ture that had never given the foot-rot, and in the course of a few 
weeks or months the complaint has been common among the great- 
er part of them] It is almost superfluous to argue that there are 
numerous diseases that may be produced by natural causes, and yet 
ar3 c"m!r"inicHble fri*'G o'le an-mal to another; and on the other 
hoi.d, l!»at '.t, i,' dillu'ult or a'.mnyt impossible to suppose that any in- 
fection could be communicated while the hoof remains sound. The 
question is, are there not cases that can only be accounted for on tho 
supposition of infection ? 

There can be no doubt that the foot-rot is contagious and the ac- 
count given of the state of the foot — its degree of maceration, the 
opening of all its pores, the fre(juent laceratif)n of the horn, and the 
absolute exposure of a greater or less poition of the sensitive sub- 
stance of the foot, the fre<!uent inflammation and sometimes ulcera- 



FOOT-ROT. 141 

tion of tlie thin skaii which covers the covoiict — all these circumstan 
ces aflTord means move than sufficient for the absorption of tlie virus 
and the production of the disease. 

Some persons have imagined that foot-rot is propagated hy means 
of animalcula? whicli are bred in the virus of the part, and, falling on 
the pasture, attack the feet of other sheep. They have gone so far 
as to describe this insect, and to give it a name — iJie jndcx penetrani 
The author of this work has often sought for it in vain ; and the 
sources of contagion are numerous and satisfactory enough, without 
any gratuitous supposition of tliis kind. 

The establisliment of this cause of the disease leads to an evident 
and an effectual mode of prevention ; the lemoval of every sheep that 
begins to halt, and before the secretion of the virus has commenced. 
It is bad policy to let the poor animals crawl about the pasture on 
their knees, day after day ; and the sheep-owner will stjverely suffer 
for his folly. How long a pasture may be considered to remain 
tainted it is impossible to decide; but a heavy rain or sharp frost 
would probably wash the virus away, or destroy its power. The 
sheep that are removed should not be permitted to return until their 
feet are perfectly healed, and have been well washed. 

It would be a very important inquiry whether some breeds of sheep 
are more subject to it than others. It would hardly be supposed that 
there would be any constitutional predisposition, and yet it is an un- 
deniable fact, that although galled and sore feel had occasionally ex- 
isted in sheep-flocks from time immemorial, the foot-rot, with all its 
dreadful accompaniments and consequences, was not known until the 
modern system of improvement commenced — until the carcase was 
heavier, and its support lessened in bulk — until the flesh and fat were 
increased, and the bone and horn diminished. Allied to this is another 
fact, that ewes in lamb are peculiarly subject to foot-i'ot, on account, 
probably, of the additional weight which the feet have to support. 

The previous habits of the sheep would have a more decided in- 
fluence in the production of foot-rot. Supposing different lots of 
sheep were taken from a dry upland pasture, and placed on a moist 
and richer soil ; the consequence would be that the hoofs of all would 
be macerated and softened, and exposed to injury, but that injury 
would be proportionate to the pressure upon the wear of the fotjt 
That was a very interesting account, given by Mr. Black, of the pnjg 
ress of foot-rot among certain sheep of different kinds, that had been 
turned into one of the parks. Ihe black-faced sheep were first 
affected, and to the greatest degree ; next in degree was a cross be 
tween the black-faced and the Cheviot; then the Cheviot; and, lae». 
and least of all, the Leicester breed. "I was at a loss," says he, " to 
account for this peculiar liability in the different breeds, while al' 
were exposed to the same circumstances; but by carefully watcinng 
the flock, I found that the black-faced got up from their lairs the 
earliest in the mornings, and, from their being accustomed to roam 
from tlie hill to the glen al the approach of daylight, in search of 
their food, continued from habit to wander through the park before 
they began to feed. The othei breeds possessed this disposition 



a 



142 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

precisely in the order in which the disease ap^ared. Consonant 
with this is the common remark, that South-Down sheep, removed 
from their native downs to low and moist pasture, are peculiarly 
6ubje(;t to foot-rot. A most iiseful conclusion will naturally be drawn 
hence as to the kind of sheep that should be selected for different 
soils and pastures." 

As the foot-rot proceeds from the distoi'tea form of the hoof, and 
the irregularity of the pressure, more than from the simple wearing 
away of the softened horn, it might be useful and especially on sus- 
pected ground, to pare the feet of all the sheep twice in the year — 
in October or November, and April or May, taking advantage of a 
wet day or two, when the horn will be more than usually soft. If 
there should be the slightest appearanc^^ of unsoundness at these peri- 
odical parings, the proper applications should be made to the feet. 
The sheep might occasionally be folded on some bare and hard spot, 
or driven twice or thrice in the week a little way along the road. 
Prevention would in this, and many other cases, preserve the animal 
from disease and toiture, and the owner from expense and loss. 

THE SCAB. 

Among the diseases of the skin in British sheep the scab standa 
foremost in frequency of occurrence and mischief to the wool, the 
flesh, and the general constitution of the animal. The same disease, 
or one much resembling it, has been known in some parts of the 
world from time immemoiial. 

It assumes different forms in different seasons and on different an- 
imals; or there are several varieties of it. A sheep is occasionally 
observed to scratch himself in the most furious manner, and with 
scarcely a moment's intermission. He rubs himself against every 
projecting part of the hedge, against every post, and the wool comes 
off from him in considerable flakes. When he is caught there is no 
appearance whatever of cutaneous disease. Mr. Young says, that 
" the sheep rub themselves in all attitudes — they have clear skins 
v/ithout the least sign of scab — never observed that it was catching 
— the better the food the worse they became — some few are taken 
as if mad, jumping and staggering about as if drunk, and they arc 
wasted away, and die in three or four months : the flesh is then quite 
green, but not stinking." 

It is evidently a disease more of the subcutaneous texture than of 
the skin itself; no satisfactory cause of it has been assigned, nor has 
any certain mode of cure been pointed out. 

The sheep should be caught and housed, shorn as closely as pos- 
sible, washed all over, and most carefully, with soap and water, and, 
after that, washed on every second day, and as long as may be requi- 
site, with a lotion composed of equal parts of lime-water and a decoc- 
tion of tobacco. The corrosive and arsenic lotion should be carefully 
avoided, as not only without good effect in a disease of this kind, but 
its application being attended by much danger. A diluted mercurial 
ointment has been employed with advantage — one part of the com- 
mon mercurial ointment, and seven of lard — two or three ounces be- 



THE SCAB. ]43 

ing well nihbecl in every second day, and the application renewed 
not more than three or four times. 

Tiie scab in sheep is much akin to the mange in othei* animals. It 
is most con:n:on -n the spring and early part of the summer. It may 
be produced by a variety of causes such as bad keep, starvation, 
hasty driving, dogging, and exposure afterward to cold and wet; 
thus producing suppression of the perspiration. The pievailing 
cause, however, is contagion. 

The sheep, as in the rubbers, is restless — scratching itself with i s 
feet — nibbling itself — tearing off the wool, or violently rubbing itself 
against every convenient place. When closely examined, the skin 
will be found to be red and roughened. There has evidently been 
an extensive eruption, and there still remain on various parts numer- 
ous pustules which have broken, and run together, and form small 
or large patches of crust or scab — hence the name of the disease — 
under which there is a soi'e surface if the coveiing is removed too 
soon. The shoulders and the back, most frequently, earliest exhibit 
these pustules. The general health of the animal is affected accord- 
ing to the extent and virulence of the eruption ; sometimes he pines 
away and dies, exhausted by continued irritation and suffering. It 
is a most cortagious disease. If it is once introduced into a flock, 
the farmer may be assured that, unless the tainted sheep are imme- 
diately removed, the whole of his flock will become infected, and 
sadly deteriorated in value; or they will afterward be unfit to breed 
from in his own stock, and he must not sell them. 

It seems to spread among the sheep, not so much by direct con- 
tact as by means of the rvhb'ing-places ; for it has happened, that 
when the farmer has got rid of his tainted flock, and covered his pas- 
tures with a new one, the disease has broken out again, and has been 
as trouble«,ome and as injurious as before ; and this has arisen from 
the gates, and other rubbing-places, not having been painted or taken 
away. The time which elapses between the infection and the ap- 
pearance of the pustules has been ascertained with considerable pre- 
cision; a circumstance of much impoitance in any legal inquiry with 
regard to the soundness of the sheep and the liability of the seller. 
About the twelfth day the pustules begin to appear, very small and 
thick ; and the animal is then first seen to ferret, or rub himself The 
skin also becomes rough, and, on being handled, is found to be cov- 
ered with small and hard salient points. Four days afterward, from 
the rubbing and biting of the animal, the summits of the pustules 
are bix)ken, and a purulent matter, which soon becomes concrete, 
escapes. This f )rms the scab, some of the wool fallinu;- off, and the 
fleece generally becoming irregular, hard, dry, and biittle. 

The scab in sheep, like the mange in cattle, and the itch in the 
human being, is caused by certain minute insects of the class Acari, 
which inhabit the pustules or. the skin. The disease spreads over 
the animal and is communicated to the rest of the flock by means of 
fhese animp/'cula?. 

The cure of scab, then, lies in the destruction of this insect. TIms 
is a sinvpl » and most important view of the caee. Tlie essence of 



144 YOUATT ON SIIEEi 

the disease is the existence of, niul the irritation caused by, thit 
E.carus ; tlie cure is tlie removal or destruction of the tormentor. 
Then the question as to the form under wliich the remedy is best 
applied, is immediately answered. The washes, whether infusions 
of tobacco, or hellebore, or arsenic, are somewhat objectionable. 

A safer and a more effectual method — destroying' the insect and 
])enefiting the wool — is the application of a mercurial ointment. It 
had long been in frequent use among sheep-masters as a cure for 
the scab, but had got into some disrepute from its having been made 
too strotig, and applied in too large quantities, and thus salivating 
some of tlie lambs and the pregnant ewes. The ointment should be 
made of two strengths. That for bad cases should consist of com- 
mon mercurial, or Trooper's ointment, rubbed down with three times 
its weight of lard. The other, for ordinal y purposes, should con- 
tain five pai'ts of lard to one of the mercurial ointment. The oper- 
ator should begin with the head of the sheep, and rub a little of the 
ointment well into it. A shred or furrow should then be made from 
the head to the tail, and in such a manner that the skin is exposed. 
A little of the ointment should then be applied with the finger to 
the skin, along the whole of the exposed surface. Another furrow 
should then be drawn on either side, and in this way, over the whole 
sheep, the furrows not being more than four inches apart. When 
any of the scabs are easily moved, they should be taken away ; and, 
Inst of all, the whole of the ointment that has been thus applied tc 
the furrows must be well and thoroughly rubbed in. The quantitj 
of ointment applied to each sheep may vary from a few drams t. 
two ounces, one third of the quantity being used for a lamb. 

The sheep that has been thus dressed may be considered, at least, 
as incapable of infecting any of the others; the itching will soon 
subside ; the acari will either be desti'oyed by the mercury as soon 
as they appear on the skin, or it will penetrate to their deepest 
recesses and poi^rjn them there ; or if, at the expiration of ten days, 
there should continue to be much uneasiness or itching, another, but 
a lighter, dressing may take place. 

This ointment will have a kindly effect on the roots of the wool, 
encouraging their growth and that of the natural yolk, and forming 
a comfortable and most useful defence against the cold of the ens . 
ing winter. 

LICE AND TICKS. 

Thei-e is a species of louse peculiar to the sheep, which occasion- 
ally exists in almost incredible numbers, associated with common 
scab, or connticted with or producing an eruptive disease somewhat 
resembling the scab. Tliis louse — the hyphobosca crina — is small 
and active, and of a brown color, principally tormenting lambs and 
hog-sheep that are out of condition. Cases have been known, where, 
after the lambs had lain a little while in the sun, they appeared to 
be of a brown color; all the lice by which they were infested hati 
crept to the outside of the wool. Tobacco-juice, ointment, and 
aiJsBuic, ai"e the three remedies commonly used; though the oint 



THE FLV. 14^ 

merit is to be preferred, on account of its salutary effect on the skin 
and the growth of the wool. The weaker of the preparations recom- 
mended for the scab shouhl be used. 

The sheep-tick is a formidable insect. Its instruments for piercing 
the skin, and almost burying its proboscis and its head within it, are 
three in number; but it adheres so firmly to the skin chielly by 
means of its six legs, which are exceedingly muscular and pcnver- 
ful, and armed with strong, double, serrated claws. It is a nimble 
animal, and runs quickly enough about the sheep in search of some 
favorite spot, and, when it has fixed itself there, it will hang for 
weeks and months together. It seems as if it had lost the power of 
extricating itself, for it never voluntarily comes away. It is some- 
times fijund as large as a horse-bean. It propagates with much 
rapidity, although not to be compared with the sheep-louse. 

It is useless to attempt to force it from its hold ; but it will usu- 
ally yield to the application of the mercurial ointment well rubbed 
upon and around, or common turpentine, or even linseed-oil. 

THE FLY. 

Toward the middle of May, and especially in a woody district, or 
where the fences are high, certain species of flies begin to deposit^ 
their eggs on the wool of the shee}). If the animal labors unde^ 
diarrhoea, the excrement accumulates and putrefies around the tai\ 
and they will be first deposited there, or in any accidental wouii'l. 
The maggots are scarcely hatched before they begin to burrow un- 
der the skin, and sadly torment the sheep by the severity of their 
bites. The head is very much exposed to the attack of these 
insects. A plaster composed of a pound of pitch and two drains 
of beeswax, melted together, and spread while warm on soft leather, 
or even on linen cloth, is with much advantage applied to the head 
when it begins to get sore; sometimes it is used as a precautionary 
measure before the soreness commences. It covers the head, and 
heals it if sore, and prevents the future attack of the fly. Some per- 
sons apply it while warm, without any leather or cloth, and then 
scatter a little short wool over it ;. and others sow the plaster round 
the head. 

When the fly attacks other parts, the wool should be carefullv 
parted or cut away, and some spirit of tar freely applied : this will 
destroy the maggots that are already deposited, and the smell of the 
tar will prevent the approach of other flies. Mr. Hogg asserts tint 
the coarsest kind offish-oil will always prevent the attack of the fl\. 
•' I happened," says he, "to be assisting at the sorting of a stock o^ 
sheep of the Cheviot breed, when sundry of their heads were broken 
by the flies. The shepherds brought them out of the fold with the 
intention of smearing the sore parts with tar, I advised them to 
anoint them with coarse whale-oil, such as they mix among the tar, 
having several times seen sores softened and healed by it. Some 
of it being near at hand, they consented. The flies were at this time 
settled upon the fuld in such numbers, that when we went in amonu 
the sheep wo could with difliculty see each other; but those anoinlef' 

10 



146 TOUATT ON SHEEP, 

with the oil were turned in among the rest, and, to our utter astoii« 
isliment, in less than a minute not a fiy was to be seen." Thfl 
wool that is anointed by this oil never quite loses the smell of it 
until scoured ; therefore, a few drops of it, spiinkled on the sheep 
at the be"^inning of the season, would probably keep the flies from 
troubling them during the whole of the summer. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Sheep-shearing. — The Grazing and Fattening of Sheep. 
SHEEP-SHEARING. 

The proper time for this operation must depend on the climalj, 
the earliness or lateness of particular seasons, and the breed and 
condition of the sheep. Some sheep will be ready as early as the 
middle of May, and especially if they have been neglected in the 
winter months, and little nutriment could be spared for the fleece, 
and it has remained on the back of the owner almost a dead sub- 
stance. It is then more easily and quickly displaced by the growth 
of the new wool underneath. The sheep may be said to be ready . 
for shearing when the old wool has fairly risen from the skin, and 
a coat of new wool covers the skin. The extremes of heat and 
cold ai'e as injurious to the sheep as to other animals, and there 
should be a complete covering of new wool before the old one is 
taken away. An early and a warm spring will make a great deal 
of difference in this respect. Some time in June will generally be 
the period selected, depending on the state of the sheep, and which 
the experienced sheep-master will in a moment perceive. It is bad 
practice, however, to dfive it off" until the middle or the end of July, 
■under the notion that there will be a longer fibre and consequently 
a heavier fleece. This will rarely happen ; the old fleece will have 
separated, and a portion of it fallen off, and the fly will have had 
longer time to be busy, and will sometimes have done irreparable 
mischief; while the new fleece will have been stinted in its growth, 
or part of it will be uselessly removed by the shears. 

About a week is now suffered to elapse after washing, in order 
that the fleece may become sufficiently dry, and also that the new 
yolk, which is secreted with wonderful rapidity, may penetrate through 
it. The weight of the fleece will be increased, and, what is of much 
more consequence, a new softness will be comiuunicated to the wool. 

It should be received as a fundamental principle of sheep-shearing, 
that the more perfectly it is performed the gfeater will be the suc- 
v^eeding crop of wool. The operation is thus described by the wri- 
ter in the " Quarterly Journal :" — " A barn or shed into which plenty 
of liffht can be admitted near the sheai'ers should be selected, and a 



SHEEr-SIIEARIXO. 14? 

part of the floor covered with a large canvass sheet, on which two 
shearers can operate. The sheet should be nailed down, and a little 
straw placed under it to soften it as a cushion. The floor of the 
barn should be swept out quite clean, and a light broom should be 
at hand, to sweep the sheet when necessary. Everything being ar- 
ranged a shearer seizes a sheep, and sets it on its rump, and keeps 
it in this position by resting the back against his own legs. He re- 
moves all straws, thorns, burs, &c., that may have adhered to tlie 
wool. While thus held, the wool is removed from the head and neck 
so far as the shoulders, and also from the belly, the scrotum, and the 
edge of the thighs. The head of the animal is then bent down side- 
wise, and the shearer, placing a leg on each side of the neck of the 
shsep, pushes out the opposite ribs by pressing his knees gently 
against the ribs that are nearest to him. He next shears the wool 
from the far side with his left hand, from the belly to the middle of 
the back, and as far down as the loins. The sheep is now turned, 
and the right hand is employed to shear the wool from the near side. 
The sheep is then laid flat on its side, and kept down by the shearei 
with his face toward the rump of the sheep, resting his rio-ht knee 
on the ground in front of the neck, and his right toe bein tr brought 
to the ground a little behind and below the poll ; the head and neck 
of the sheep are thus confined by his right leg, while ho uses his 
right hand to shear the wool from the hind quarter. In this way the 
clips of the shears will appear in concentric rings round the body of 
the sheep. The dirty portions of wool about the tail are then re- 
moved by the shears and kept by themselves ; the outside of the 
fleece is folded inward, beginning at the sides, and narrovvino- the 
whole fleece into a stripe about two feet wide. This stripe is then 
rolled firmly up from tlie tail end toward the neck, the wool of which 
is stretched out and twisted into a rope, and wound round the fleece 
to give it a cylindrical shape." 

Since the alteration in the character and destiny of the short wool, 
its total exclusion from the fine cloths, and its increased value as a 
combing wool, the practice of shearing the lambs has fallen very 
much into disuse, and the fleece, under the name of hogget wool, is 
Buflfered to remain until the second shearing-time ; it then produces 
a considerably higher price than the ewes' wool, and constitutes the 
greater part of the remuneration which the breeder derives from the 
fleece. 

As soon as the sheep is shorn, the peculiar mark or brand of the 
owner is placed upon it.' It used to be composed of ochre or tai, 
or other substances which were afterward very difficult to he removed, 
and therefore lessened the value of the fleece. A superior materia/ 
is now used, composed of lamp-black and tallow melted together, a 
small quantity of tar being superadded. This will not be washed 
away by any storms to which the sheep may be exposed, but will 
readily yield to strong soap-^uds. 

The ewe is now dismissed to her lamb. There is, however, a 
great degree of confusion, neither the dams nor their young being 
able t:) distinguish each other so readily as before. This embarrass- 



148 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

ment seems not to arise so much fiom the loss of the fleece which 
may occasion an alteration in their appearance, as from the defect 
of that long-recognised smeil which had chai'acterized each individ- 
ual personally, and which is also rendered more doubtful l)y the 
strono- scent of the tar and the tallow, by which they have been new- 
ly marked. The brute creation recognise each other more from tho 
smell than the sight, and in matters of identity and diversity ap- 
peal much more to their noses than their eyes. 

To one circumstance more allusion must be made — nam(!ly, tho 
practice of shearing the fat sheep early in the spring. There is 
scarcely a Smithfield cattle-show in which, in the dead of winter, 
two or three sheep, just shorn, — certainly in a very neat and taste- 
ful way, and every excellent point of the animal displayed, — are not 
exhibited. Some excuse may be made for this, for the sheep are 
brought to the metropolis in closed carts, and are shown in a place 
where the winds of heaven can not visit them too roughly, but what 
shall be said of a drove of naked sheep going to market in the early part 
of March — the east wind cutting like ice, and their eyes and nosti'ils 
nearly closed with mucus 1 This is done for the sake of the little 
additional profit to be derived from the wool. Is that profit really 
derived 1 Has not the unfeeling owner miscalculated the matter ? 
Let him, or let any thinking or humane man, compare two pens of 
gheep close by each other. In the one the animals retain their nat- 
ural covering, and they are full of health and vigor; the inhabitants 
of the other hang their heads with cold and disease, an unpleasant 
rheum is discharged from their nostrils, and the eye of the sheep, 
that never deceives when the question of health is to be decided, tells 
tales, far too intelligibly, of pulmonary diseases, and of constitution 
undermined, and of evei-ything to disgust rather than attract. Has 
not the unfeeling owner miscalculated the matter ] He will say, per- 
haps, that the sheep will not travel well in their fleece. In the heat 
of summer they will not ; but when' the winds blow chilly, no sys- 
tem can so surely promote the health of the animal, as that which 
secures to him the feeling of comfort. 

SALVING OR SMEARING. 

The question of salving or sjnearing is entirely one of locality. It ia 
not possible to preserve sheep exposed tothe vicissitudes of the weather 
in high and open districts without the application of some substance 
to the fleece. The grand object to be gained is protection from the 
wet and storm ; a second is to promote the growth j^f the wool, and 
to improve its charactei". The influence of intense cold would be tc 
stint the growth, and to give a harshness to the quality of the wool. 
A third object desirable to be accomplished, is to destroy injurious 
insects, and to prevent those diseases of the skin, to which sheep in 
exposed situatious are exceedingly liable. The smearing mixtures 
were therefore composed of substances which seemed most likely to 
accomplish these purposes. The tar, by matting the wool, rendered 
it almost impossible for wet to {penetrate it. It also destroyed the 
insects wliic)) might harbor in the skin, and I'eadily cured manycu 



THE GRAZING AND FATTKxMXG OF SHEEP. 149 

taneous disorders. Tlie "butter preserved the tar from beccming toe 
tenacious or concrete, or communicating a certain harshness to the 
wool ; and it also promoted the growth of it, and either gave it soft 
ness or preserved its natural softness. Many tons weight of damageci 
butter were, and are yearly, sent into the Highlands for this purpose. 
It was, however, found that the tar communicated an indelible stain 
to the wool, which could never be used for white goods; nor would 
It take some of the most brilliant colors : therefore, the wool op 
which the salve was employed was deteriorated in value. It was 
called the laid wool, and was usually from 1*. to 2.?. per Scotch stone 
of 24lbs. lower in price than the loliitc or unsalved wool. 

it was a great object with the sheep-breeder to get rid of this stain, 
by substituting something instead of the tar. Among many experi- 
ments, some made by Mr. John Graham, of Newbigging, are de- 
serving attention. He left the tar entirely out of the question, and 
he used instead of it yellow lesin. He melted together ISlbs. each 
of butter and hog's lard, 12lbs. of resin, and two Scotch pints, or a 
gallon, of Gallipoli oil — an oil used in washing or cleaning of wool 
or cloth, taking away every stain, and leaving the wool perfectly 
white. This was sufficient for fifty-five sheep, and the cost of the 
smearing of each sheep was about ^\d. He found this wool, when 
washed, equally valuable with the white wool, and producing a con- 
siderably higher price than the laid wool. 

Future experiments must decide on the value of this and other 
Kalving mixtures. They are indispensable, and there can be no doubt 
that, in process of time, a method of preventing the stain of the tar 
will be discovered. 

The use of a small quantity of some oleaginous or greasy appli- 
cation immediately after shearing will likewise be gradually ac- 
knowledged. The protection which it affords to the almost denuded 
skin, its substitution for the natural yolk, which is not in its full quan- 
tity immediately secreted, and the softness which it v.'ill impart to 
the wool, are circumstances well deserving of attention. 

THE GRAZING AND FATTENING OF SHEEP. 

The system of sheep-feeding varies so much with the breed, the 
pasture, and the winter provision, that it is difficult to lay down any 
rules that will admit of general application. This difficulty is in- 
creased by the very different manner in which farms of the same 
character are managed according to the caprice of the owner. 

A favorite system with many sheep-farmers is topurc'^ase pregnant 
ewes in tiie autumn — to keep them on somewhat iiderior fooil during 
the winter — to give them better provender as the lambing season ap 
preaches, and, after that, to improve their keep still moie, in ordei 
that the lambs may be ready for the early market, and the ewe her- 
self sufficiently fattened before the end of autumn. Others purchase 
lambs in August or September; keep them in inferior store-condition 
until the spring, and then fatten them as quickly as j^ossible, and cleai 
t!ie whole off the ground before Michaelmas. 

Others, agnin purchase sheep in store-CDndition at all seasons 



150 yoUATT ON SHEEP. 

They bring- them forward with the best food which their farms will 
afford, and sell them as soon as they are ready for the butcher. 

Ill many parts of the country the sheep have nothing but what the 
pastures will afford, except a supply of hay, accoiding to circumstau 
ces, during the winter. Considerable management is required here. 
Sheep suffer materially from being driven backward and forward to 
different parts of the farm. It is always a considerable time before 
they will quietly settle down in a new pasture, and sometimes they 
decline considerably in condition by means of the change and their 
discontent with their new residence. In an enclosed country, sheep 
generally do best when they are separated into rather small parcels ; 
they feed more quietly, they eat less, and they waste less. When 
as many sheep are put upon a fair-sized pasture as it will properly 
keep, they will be cleared off considei-ably earlier than if they were 
put in larger numbers on more extensive grounds. Grass land, in 
small divisions, will keep and fatten many more sheep than when 
they are of a greater extent. 

There are few circumstances to which the farmer is so inattentive 
as the nature and quality of the produce of his pasture land whether 
open or enclosed; the grasses of which particular animals are fond- 
est, and on which they thrive best; the kinds of grass which he should 
have on his meadow lands; those he should cultivate on his perma- 
nent pasture; and those that should cover his higher ground. He 
can tell which produces the heaviest crop, but he knows not in which 
the nutritious principle most prevails,, or what period of the spring 
or summer, or how permanent or transient, its best time may be. 

The present duke of Bedtbi'd entitled himself to the best thanks 
of the agriculturist when he instituted a course of experiments on the 
time of flowering and seeding, and the produce and nutritive quality 
of every known kind of British grass. The time of flowering and 
seeding, and the weight of produce, and, so far as this goes, the com- 
parative value of each of the grasses at this period, is a most impoit- 
ant object to ascertain. The proportion of nutritive matter is stiU 
more important : for although it is the case in the quadruped, as in 
the human being, that it will seldom happen that two individuals 
will gain equal weights of flesh from equal quantities of the same 
kind of food, yet when the experiment is tried on a large scale there 
will be an evident and a very close connexion between the nutritive 
character of the food, and the thriving condition of tlie animals. 

An account of these experiments was published under the super- 
intendence of Mr. Sinclair, the head-gardener of the duke, but it is 
now a very scarce and expensive work. Sir Humphry Davy, in his 
excellent work on Agricultural Chymistry, has given a general view 
of the result of the experiments ; and the reader wll probably not be 
displeased at being put in possession of that which relates to the 
feeding of sheep. The grasses shall be mentioned in the order of 
their flowering 

The Sweet-scented Vernal Grass ( Anthoxanthum odoratum) 
is found on almost every kind of soil, and is a true permanent pasture 
^■rass for general purposes, and for early appearance j but it is no'. 



THE GRAZING AND FATTEMNvi OF SHEEP. 151 

liked ^y sheep, who will scarcely touch it if there are any white 
clover or meadow foxtail. 

Me vdow Foxtail Grass ( Alopecurus pratensis). — This flowers 
about May 20, and the seeds are ripened about June 24. On a 
clayey loamy soil, at the time of flowering, it produces about 20,418 
lbs. per acre, every half pound yielding IJ drams of nutritive matter. 
When the seed is ripe the produce would weigh 13,0001bs. only, but 
yii'lding 2\ drams of nutriment. The aftermath produces about 
8,00Ulbs., and the proportion of nutritive matter in 2 drams to the 
half pound. So that, although there is a greater weight of produce 
at the early mowing than at the seed-time, the real value in nutritive 
matter is not more than 2 to 3. Sheep are fond of the grass; horses 
do not dislike it, but oxen do not care for it. 

Smooth-stalked Meadow Grass {Poa pratensis) is eaten by 
sheep, but they prefer most of the fescues. It is an early grass, but 
it exhausts the soil. 

Short Blue Meadow Grass [Poa ccerulcd). — Common in the 
drier parts of peaty meadows ; nutritious, but not sufficiently so to 
make up for its unproductiveness. Sheep eat it. 

Rough-stalked Meadow Grass [Poa trivialis). — In rich moist 
soils, and sheltered situations, it is a highly valuable grass ; but oi 
high and exposed ground its produce is inconsiderable ; it yearly di- 
minishes, and dies away in four or five years. It is highly nutritive, 
and sheep are exceedingly fond of it. It flowers about June 13, and 
the seeds are ripe about July 10. In flowering-time its produce per 
acre is about 7,500lbs., and the proportion of nutritive matter is 2 
drams; at seed-time the produce is more than 7,800lbs., and the nu- 
tritive matter increased to 2'^ drams. Its superior value at seed-time 
is therefore very striking, and should not be forgotten. Contrary to 
what is the case with many other grasses, the straws at the time of 
flowering ai'e weak and tender ; but as they advance toward the 
period of ripening the seed they become firm and succulent. 

Sheep's Fescue [Fcstuca ovina). — Flowers about June 24, and 
the seeds ripen about July 10. The produce is comparatively small, 
and the proportion of nutriment is not more than 1^ drams ; but the 
sheep are exceedingly fond of it. Linnaeus affirms that sheep have 
no relish for hills and heaths that are destitute of this grass. Gmelin, 
in his " Flora Siberica," says that the Tartars fix their summer resi- 
dence where this grass is in greatest plenty, on account of its being 
so wholesome for their sheep. It has a very soft and fine foliage, 
and therefore may be better adapted to the teeth of the shee}) than 
larger grasses ; or it may be possessed of some peculiar sanatory 
power. Sheep are exceedingly fond of it, and they thrive wherever 
it is found. 

Round-headed Cock's-Foot Grass {Dacii/lis glomerata). — This 
is an exceedingly productive and nutritive grass ; affording in the 
flowering time 2^, and when the seeds are ripe 3^ drams of nutritive 
matter. The leaves of the aftermath are very succulent. It is val- 
aal)le for permanent pasture. Sheep eat it very readily. 

Welsh Fescue {Fcxiuna Cambrica). — The sheep are as fond of 



l52 VOUATT ON SHEEP. 

it as of the common sheep's fescue, while it is more proJuctive and 
succulent. It is most valuable when the seeds are ripe. 

NARROw-i.EAVEn Meadow Grass {Poa angustifolia). — Flowers 
at the end of June ; and the seed perfect at the end of July. On 
account of its early and rapid growth it is very valuable for perma- 
nent pasture, and sheep like it. 

Hard Fescue [Festuca duriuscula). — This grass is most prevalent 
on light rich soils, but is always found in the best natural pastures, 
where the soil is retentive. It is one of the best of the finer or 
dwai'f-grovving grasses ; and most valuable for the feeding of sheep. 
It flowers about the very beginning of July, and the seeds are ripe 
toward the latter end of the same month. At the time of flowering 
it is a very productive grass, as a short one, yielding nearly a ton 
per acre, and aflVjrding a proportion of 31 drams of nutritive matter. 
At seed-time the general weight of the grass is somewliat more, but 
the nutritive matter amounts to only 1^ drams. The proportionate 
value of the grass at the time of flowering is therefore 7 to 3. 

Meadow Fescue Grass [Festuca j^ratensis). — It constitutes a very 
considerable portion of the herbage of all rich natural pastui'es. It 
makes excellent hay, and never forms rank tufts. It is much liked 
by cattle, but sheep comparatively neglect it. It flowers at the very 
beginning of July, and the seed is ripe toward the latter end of the 
month. Its produce at flowering-time is nearly three quarters of a 
ton per acre, and the quantity of nutritive matter is no less than 4^ 
drams. When the seed is ripe the produce is nearly a ton, but the 
quantity of im-tritive matter is only 1\ drams in the same weight of 
produce; although not so much in quantity, it is three times as vale 
able at the begitming as at the end of July. 

Rye G-rass [Lolium ])erenne). — Mr. Sinclair says of this grass : 
" Sheep eat it, when it is in the earliest stage of its growth, in pref- 
erence to most others ; but after the seed apjjroaches toward perfec- 
tion they leave it for almost any other kind. A field in the park at 
Woburn was laid down in two equal parts, one part with rye gras3 
and white clover, and the other part with cock's foot and red clover. 
From the spring until midsummer the sheep kept almost constantly 
on the rye grass, but after that time they left it and adhered with 
equal constancy to the cock's foot during tlie remainder of the sea- 
son." This grass is of almost eiiual value at the flowering and the 
seed season — the beginning and latter end of July. It may, how- 
ever, be objected to it, that it exhausts the soil. 

Crested Dog-tail Grass (Ci/nosurus cristattis). — Mr. Sinclaii 
says, that the South-Down sheep appear to be remarkably fond of 
this grass, preferring it to most of those that have been described, 
while, on the contrary, the Welsh sheep comparatively reject it, and 
browse on almost everything else. The grazier in particular dis- 
tricts may, perhaps, take advantage of this. 

Fertile Meadow Grass [Poa fertilis). — In early growth, the 
proportion of nutritive matter, and the nutritive quality of the latter 
math, th's grass will yield to few. It continues to send forth a sue- 



THE GRAZING AND FATTENING OF SHEEP. 153 

cession of flowet ng; culms until the frost arrests their g.'owth. It i« 
therefore an excellent meadow grass combined with others. 

Yellow Oat Grass {Ave?ia Jlavescens). — Found in dry soils and 
meadows, and readily eaten by sheep A calcareous manure ren- 
ders it consiclerably more productive. 

Meadow Cat's-tail Grass — Timothy Grass — [PJileum pra- 
temc). — It flowers in the third week in June, and the seed ripens in 
the end of July. Of mucli value, ihr permanent pasture, mixed with 
other grasses, on account of its early herbage, its great productive- 
ness, and the superior proportion of nutritive matter which it con- 
tains. At the seed-time, a little before which it should be cut, for 
if it is cut later the aftermath will be deficient, it contains no less 
than 5| drams of nutritive matter. It is most useful for the sheep 
in the ibrm of hay. 

Bents [Aa^rosfis). — The different species of bent, although com- 
mon on almost all poor kinds of pasture, possess no gieat value. 
Some of the mountain sheep, however, ai'e fond of them. Mr. Sin- 
clair says that the Welsh sheep will leave all other kinds of pasture 
In order to graze on the common bent. 

The improved system of husbandry, and the extent to which the 
early fattening of the sheep is carried, have rendered various kinds 
of artificial feeding necessary. Almost the last vegetable that was 
introduced, and the most important, is the Turnip. While it sup- 
plies a great quantity of inost useful food for the sheep, it increases 
the fertility of the soil in the least troublesome and expensive way. 
The kind of turnip cultivated must depend on the soil. The com- 
mon or white field turnip will be preferred on light and sandy soils 
— the Swedish for the heavier ones. The Swedish turnips are the 
densest, and least liable to rot ; they also are the most nutritive. 
Half a pound of the Swedish turnip yield 110 grains of nutritive mat- 
ter ; the same quantity of the garden turnij?, which is second in the 
order of nutrition, contains only So grains. The quantity of nutri- 
tion singularly varies with the size of the root in different species of 
the turnip. The larger roots of the Swedes afford a greater pro- 
portion of nutriment than the smaller ones. In the other varieties 
the moderately-sized roots have the greatest quantity of nutritive 
matter. 

The frequent and the most economical way of using the turnip is 
to have two different flocks of sheep succeeding to each other — the 
fattening and the store sheep. The former are first turned on a por- 
tion of the field separated by hurdles ; and the power of selection 
which they have, and of scooping out the roots that please them 
best, will twice as rapidly add to their condition as if the turnips 
had been dug up and carted to them on another pasture. The store 
sheep will follow and clear everything away. 

Due caution has been given under the article " Hoove," p. 85, 
not to suffer the sheep to remain too long at first on this highly-nu- 
tritious food. The means to be adopted, should the rumen become 
over distended, have also been there described. 

Tlie tjinip-crop is liable to very considerable irregularity of 



154 YOUATT ON SHEEP. 

produce from various causes, and the farmer Is occabionally distreasod 
to find food for his sheep. This has led some to have recourse ro 
the POTATO, and with very great success. The quantity of nutritive 
matter in a given vi^eight of the roots is doubled, and sometime? 
trebled, in the potato. In the ox-noble, 235 grains are yielded by 
everv lialf-pound of the root ; the rough red yields 305 grains, and 
the champion not less than 378 grains. 

The RYE-GRASS has been already mentioned as an occasional food 
for sheep. The red clover is another favorite food, the spring 
leaves of it yielding a very considerable quantity of nutritive matter. 
The red clover is far more nutritive than the white or Dutch clover. 
LucERN yields still more, and hurnet yet more, nutritive matter. 

The MANGEL-WURZEL has lately been tried. The weight of crop 
produced on a suitable soil has caused this root to be ranked among 
the profitable ones; but, like all other nutritious roots, it sadly dete- 
riorates the soil. A writer in the " Farmer's Journal" says, that 
from his turnip-crop failing in 1820, he fed his ewes with mangel- 
wurzel and hay — 251bs. of the former, and 51bs. of the latter. From 
the great quantity of milk which the ewes yielded, the lambs were 
in hio-h condition. Some other sheep of his increased on the avei 
ao-e 81bs. per quarter in five weeks. Each had 25lbs. of mangel 
wurzel and 51bs. of good hay daily. 

Another writer in the same periodical states that he fed his ewes 
on mano-el-vvurzel. Some of them fed voracious^, and in a short 
time sickened, and began to lose their wool, a great part of it coming 
off in flakes, and leaving the skin naked. He therefore recommends 
to o-ive only a small quantity to the ewes at the time of lambing, in- 
creasing it as the lambs increase in size ; for, he very properly adds, 
"lo cici^'e ^^y c^:i;y succulent food the greatest possible flow of milk 
in the ewe when the lamb is young, and not able to draw the whole 
quantity, is a bad practice." 

Potatoes have, as already observed, occasionally been adopted a£ 
a winter food, either when the turnip-crops failed, or alternately 
with them, in order that they might last through the winter. They 
are given sliced in the cribs or troughs ; and when there is conv»- 
nience for steaming them, few things so rapidly fatten the sheep. 



THE BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP 

IN THE UNITED STATES. 

The native or common breeds of sheep in this country were in- 
croduced from Great Britain, and are so termed in comparison with 
the improved breeds that have been imported during the present 
century. They are of two kinds — the polled, or no-horned, and the 
horned sheep. The wool of the common breeds is coarse ; but when 
kept in good condition, their mutton is of excellent quality, and the 
carcass of good size. 

The principal improved breeds in this country are the Leicesters, 
the Bakevvells, the South-Downs, the Merinoes, and the Saxon- 
Merinoes, or the Saxons, as they are commonly called. Of all these 
creeds, a fuil and patticular account will bo found in the body of 
this work, under their appropriate heads. The Bakewells, which 
are but an improved variety of Leicester, and the South-Downs, 
have generally been selecced from good stock, and will compai'e 
favorably with the breeds in England whence they were oiiginally 
taken. The South-Downs are reckoned the best mutton in the 
world ; and their wool, which is a medium between the long and the 
short and the coarsest, is inferior only to the Merino. The Bakewells 
are, however, deemed by many but little inferior, if not eqyal, to the 
South-Downs in the flavor of their mutton, though their fleece, which 
is long wool, is of a quality next inferior to the South-Downs. The 
carcass of the Bakewell is larger than that of any other sheep, and 
is on that account deemed the most profitable breed for mutton. 

The Merino sheep in this country have not generally been selected 
from the best stock, and this, together with imperfect and less care- 
ful modes of management, will account for our failure to produce 
wools that will equal the fine fleeces of Saxony and Silesia. " The 
first importations from Saxony," says Mr, Flcischmann in one of his 
letters, " were at an early period, when the Saxony flocks had no 
constant character in their wool, and when a fine and faultless animal 
was scarcely to be got; and at that period the wool-growers of 
Saxony had not the experience to give advice to others. Those 
imported from Spain were of as coarse a nature as those of Saxony, 
and the whole business of crossing was not conducted with sufficient 
care. The importations made of late are of a higher degree of fine- 
ness ; but, as it is generally a matter of speculation on the part of 
those to whom the well-meaning wool-growers intrust tlie business 
of selecting and buying, the selections are made from flocks of less 
thorough blood, and imperfect character of wool, and the name of 
being Saxon or Silesian sheep must generally cover all the faults of 
the chosen stock. 

" Those who know the country, the language, and are good con 
noisseurs, are made the duj)es of the cunning speculator. How 
easy, then, is it to deceive a stranger from a foreign country, whose 
time is limited, aud who has to trust to tha which is told him. 



156 SHEEP IN THE UMTED STATES. 

*' Nature has destlnecl that- the United States shall be tVe granary 
of the world, and that its extensive tracts of mountainous land shall 
raise the necessary material for clothing for its vast territoiies. The 
hiarh Allegany will give to innumerable flocks of Merinoes an excel- 
lent pasture during the hot days of summer; and when the snow 
covers the mountains, the spreading plains below the snowy summit 
will, nearly all the year round, yield sufficient pasture, especially in 
the more southern parts of the Union, where scarcely a liandflil of 
fodder will be required to be laid in for winter. The luxuriant heavy 
grass of the prairies will answer for the English long-woolled sheep, 
and for the hardy rackel of Hungai-y, which furnishes also the most 
delicious mutton.'' 

Mr. Fleischmann adds: "Experience has shown that only thor 
ough blood should be employed in the improvement of stocks of all 
descriptions, and the wool-grower is very desirous to obtain it from 
a flock of established character, where the wool has all those requis- 
ites which the marmfacturer requires of Electoral wool. Sometimes 
inferior flocks produce animals having all the requisites desired.; 
but such an animal will produce lambs inferior to itself, and full of 
the faults of the parents. Such mistakes, which arise from want of 
knowledge or misapplied economy in the purchase of stock to breed 
from, will retard a flock for years, and produces faults which are 
detenorating to the whole character of the wool. 

" The selection of stock to breed from requires a well-2iractised 
eye, to detect the injurious character of the wool upon the different 
parts of the sheep, and at the same time to select an animal which 
has the proper shape and strength to suit his flocks, the climate, 
and the local condition." 

The great end to be attained by the farmer in cultivating any 
breed of sheep, is profit. To gain, then, the greatest produce, sev- 
eral circumstances must be taken into consideiation. It is to be 
observed, that the fine-woolied sheep will not generally produce as 
excellent mutton as the coarse-woolled breeds. In cultivating the 
one class, the farmer must have an eye mainly to the fleece ; and 
the other, to the mutton. To ascertain which will be the more prof- 
itable, the circumstances and condition of one's farm must be taken 
into consideration. The native breeds — the Leicesters, the Bake- 
wells, and the South-Downs — are an agile race, and are not to be 
confined by ordinary fences, which they will leap without diflSculty 
In this country, then, where dogs are not employed, the farmer 
whose farm can not without difficu'.ty be enclosed by high fences 
will find the Merinoes more convenient to raise, as they will not 
ordinarily leap even a common fence. It is, also, to be considered, 
that the Merinoes, and especially the Saxon-Merinoes, have large 
and curved hoofs, and are more liable to the hoof-rot if placed oij 
damp or wet pastures. The carcass of the Merino, though much 
smaller than other sheep, is regarded by many as being nearly or 
quite as profitable for mutton, in some localities, as the larger breeds. 
A larger number of Merinoes may be raised to the acre, and in the 
aggregate, perhaps, as many pounds of mutton, which some cod. 



CULTURE OF FINE WOOL IN SILESIA. 157 

aider nearly oi- quite equal to that of the larger sheep. The fineness 
of the fleece will more than compensate for the extra care and 
expense required in cultivating the Merino ; and on this account, 
many sheep-breeders have been of the opinion that the Merino, and 
especially the Saxon or Silesian Merino, would be the most profit- 
able sheep to the farmer. All admit that the soil and climate of 
almost every part of our country are highly favorable to the culti'-a- 
tion of the finest wool. All that is required is a careful selection fiom 
the best Saxon and Silesian flocks, and the employment of the most 
improved modes of management, which have been so highly suc- 
cessful in Germany, and an outline of which is given in the remarks 
of Mr. Fleischmann, who is about to publish a more full and detailed 
account of the culture of sheep. 

In regard to the management of fino-woolled sheep in this country, 
the mode detailed by Mr. Fleischmann has been pronounced by th'j 
most experienced judges as the most worthy of attention. From 
among various letters detailing the modes of management adopteo 
.in this country, we conclude these remarks by making a few extracts 
from a letter written by Mr. A. Beatty, of Kentucky, giving an ac- 
count of his experience and observatiotis. He says: — 

" For some years after I commenced raising sheep, I housed them 
during the winter months, and fed them with hay, sheaf-oats, and 
occasionally with corn. But afterward, when my pastures became 
moi"e extensive, I found I could winter my sheep to better advantage 
by suffering them to run on blue-grass pastures, kept in reserve for 
them, hauling out and scattering on the turf corn-fodder, when the 
grass became too short or was covered with snow. This mode of 
feeding required less labor, was less expensive, and the sheep passed 
through thtt winter in better condition, than when housed and fed on 
hay." M"-- Beatty also remarks that his sheep will do remarkably 
well on thw rankest clovei", which enables him to keep in I'eserve 
larger pastures of blue-grass for feeding. Sheep do extremely well 
on clover, and if accustomed to it gradually there is no fear of the 
hooves — the only thing to dread from rank clover. By good feed- 
ing, sheep may be pushed forward in their growth and breeding one 
year. They will, moreover, be larger and finer in carcass, and pro 
duce a greater weight of wool, and that of a superior quality. 



INDEX 



PAGE 112 



Abortion, Causes cf . 

Absces8 m the Brain .... 

Acute Dropsy — Redwater 

Acute Intiammation of the Lungs 

Advantages of the United States for 

breeding Sheep .... 
AfFection of the Ewe for her Lamb 
After-Care of the Lambs 
Aker-Pains 
Age of the Slveep 
Anatomy of tlie Sheep 
Anatomy of the Wool 
Aphtha, or Thrush 
Apoplexj' .... 
Causes of . 
Treatment . 
Raliewell's Improved Breed 
Barbary Rams, Introduction of, by Pe- 
dro IV. of Spai 1 . . . . 
Reatty, Mr. A., cI Kentucky. Extract 

ot Letter from .... 

Belly and Chest, proper Form of '. 
Blain, or InHamwation of the Tongue 
Bones of the Skull, great Strength of 
Bot in the Sinuses of the Head 
Brain of the Sheep, Description of . 
Brain-Fever . . . _ 

Breeder should select his Lambs with 

Care 

Breeding— Generative and Urinary Sys 
tems ...... 

Breeds and Management of Sheep in 
the United States .... 

Bronchitis \ 

Treatment of ... . 
Cffisarian Operation in Lambing 
Castration — Time when, and different 

Modes of 

Ciiest and Belly, proper Form of 
Choking, Remedies for 
Coagulation of Milk, in the Stomachs 
of Lambs ..... 

Consumption 

Costiveness in Lambs 

Cud, Loss of 

Decline of the Woollen Manufacture in 

Spain 

Diarrhoea 

in Lambs 

Diseases of Sheep .... 

of Lambs 

of the Locomotive Organs . 
of the Senses .... 
Docking ...... 

Dropsy, Acute 

Dysentery 

Elector of Saxony's Efforts In the Im- 
provement of Sheep 

Kpilcpsy 

Ewe, Affection of, for her Lamb 
Ewes, Management of during Preg- 
nancy 

Exposure to Air favorable to Quality 
o* Wool . ^ 

158 



. 109 

108 

15.5 
104 
105 
118 



10-J 
132 

78 
132 
135 

79 
128 
101 
103 

48 

78 

122 

111 

51 



Excellences of the Merino Breed page 44 

Exportation of "IVool from the U. S. 58 

Eyes, Diseases of 

Fattenine: of Sheep . . ' ] 

Fatten Ewes, Age most profitable tc 

Felting 

Fever in Lambs . . . ' 

Fibre of the Wool, Form of 

Fineness of the VVool 

Fleischmann, Charles L.. Remarks of— 
on fine Wool in Silesia 
on Sheep in the United States 

Flies 

Fluke W^orm, Cause or Effect of the Rot 

Folding .... 

Food of the South-Downs . 

Foot- Rot .....' 
Treatment of ... ' 
Contagious . . . . ' 
Prevention . . . . ' 
Causes ... 

Form of the Head of the Sheep' 

Fractures .... 

Gadfly (oestrus ovis]. Description of ' 

Garget . . . _ 

Gloss-Anthrax, ot Blain 

Goats, Under-Hair of some, fiiier than 
the Wool of Sheep 

Grasses, Nutritive; Properties of 

Grazing and Fattening of Sheep 

Gullet. Obstruction in the . 

Hairy Covering of ihe Primitive Shi^eo 10 



80 

149 

8 

IT 
133 

12 

13 

15 

155 

145 

90 
100 

37 
135 
139 
140 
141 
141 
567 
135 

60 
129 

80 

10 
150 
149 

82 



Hair to Wool. Gradual Change from 
Head of the Sheep, Importance of Sl^e 

of . . . 
Hoof-Rot ...'';' 
Hoove, or the Distention of the Stcn- 

aoh by Gas • . . . " 

Hungarian Sheep ..." 
Hydatid on the Brain . * ' 

Cau.ses of . . . _ ' 
Means of Cure . . ' ' 
Mr. Stephens's History of a Case 
Hydrocephalus, or Water in the Head 
Importance of the Size of the Head 
Inttammation of the Brain 
Liver 
Lungs 

Salivary Glands 
Tongue 
Udder 
Womb 
Inflammatory Fever in Lambs . 
Influence ol Soil on Softness of Wool 
Introduction of Merino Slieep intoEn--- 
land . . . _ ° 

Introduction of Barbary " Rams, iAto 

ijpain, by Pedro IV. 
Inversion of the Womb 
Jaaiaica Slieep, Description of 
L amber. Duty of 
Lambs, Care "of the . 
After Care of the 
Management of the . 



11 



85 

52 

63 

67 

68 

66 

71 

58 

75 

87 

105 

82 

80 

129 

119 

133 

16 

53 

43 

113 

11 

121 

lai 
lis 



159 



Lamping, Preparation for. . page 113 

ManageiHeiU of . . . .115 

Effects of Weather upon . . 116 

False Presentation, Treatment of 117 

Ciesarian Operation . . . 118 
Leicester Slieep .... 25 

Leonese Class of the Spanish Sheep 

Lice 

Liver, Diseases of the 

Locked Jaw 

Treatment of ... . 

Long Wool 

Loss of Cud ..... 
Lungs, Acute Inflammation of 
Management, Mr. Fink's Mode of 
Management of the Lambs 
Meat of the New Leicester Sheep . 
Mediciwes used in the Treatment of the 

Diseases of Sheep 
Merino Ewe ..... 

Merino Ram 

Merino Sheep, Description of . 
Merino Sheep, Introduction of into Eng- 
land 

Middle Wool 

Middle W'oolled Sheep. Description of 

Migratory Sheep, Description of 

Monstrosities ..... 

Names of the Sheep 

Natural Age of the Sheep 

Neck, proper Form of . . . 

New Leicester, Description of 

Faults of 

has improved other Breeds by cros- 
sing 

Lambs of, tender and weakly 

Management of . . . . 

Origin and Improvement of 

Propensity to fatten 

Treatment of Lambs of the 
North American Sheep, originally low 

Standard of . . . 
Obstruction in the Gullet 
Otter Sheep, Description of 

Palsy 

Pasture, Influence of on Wool 
Parotid Gland. Inflammation of 
Phrensy, or Brain-Fever 
Potatoes, as a Winter Food for Sheep 
Pregnancy, Management of Ewes dur- 
ing 

Preparation for Lambing 

Primitive Sheep, Hairy Covering of 

Properties of the Wool 

Prussian Sheep ... 

Rams, Practice of Letting 

Kedwater . . 

Rot, the . . . . . 

Drains, a Preventive of 

Late Floods, Precursors of 

not infectious 

Peculiar to Wet Seasons, and to 
Marshy Soils . 

Salt, a Remedy for 

Treatment of 
Salivary Glands. Inflammation of 
Salt Remedy for Rot 
Salving or Smearing 
Sp.xon Merrno Ram . 
SftXDU' Merino Sheep 



45 

144 

86 

76 

77 

22 

86 

105 

51 

125 

30 

160 
48 
44 
43 

53 

23 

30 

45 

120 

5 

9 

85 



32 
32 
33 
26 

28 
35 

54 
82 
55 
78 
15 
82 
75 
154 

'11 

U3 
the 10 
13 
50 
39 

101 
87 
93 
95 

100 

92 
99 
97 
82 
99 
148 
50 
48 



Scab, tne 

contagious . 
Shearing ... 
Sheep's Dung — Folding 
Short Wool 
Silesia, Fine Wool of 
Silesian Sheep .... 
Size of the Head. Importance of 
Skeleton of the Sheep 
Skin. Structure of the 
Skull of a [lolled Sheep 
Smell, Sense of more acute in Sheep, 

than in most Animals 
Softness of Wool 

Influence of Soil on 
Sorian Class of Spanish Sheep 
Sorting of the Lambs 
Soundness of Fibre of Wool 
South-Downs, Description of 
Spani.sli Sheep, History of 
Spanish Sheep in Britain . 
Spaying .... 
Spirally-Curling Form of Wool 
Stomach. Distention of bj Gas 
Substitute Lamb 
Sussex Sheep-Breeder's Management 
Swdled Head . 
Swellings of the Joints 
Teeth 

Appearance of at difi'erent Ages 

Tetanus 

Thrush, or Aphtha 

Ticks 

Treatment of Sheep in Saxony 
Trueness of Staple 
Turnip, its Value for Sheep 
Turnsiok, or Hydatid on the Brain 

Symptoms of . . . 

Remedies for 

Danger of its Return 

Means of Pre\ention 

Twins 

Udder, Inflaramatio t of the 
Uses to which Sheep-Skins are applied 
"Water in the Head . 
Weald Sheep .... 
Weaning ..... 
Weight of New Lei(.e.'--ter Sheep 
South Down Wethers 
Womb. Inversion of the . 

Inflammation of the . 
Wool, Anatomy of the 

Fibres of Long-Merino and Saxon 



-•AGE 143 
143 
146 
100 

25 
157 

52 



57 
9 

o8 

79 
16 
16 
45 

134 
I'o 
36 
41 
53 

130 
18 
85 

123 
38 
59 

136 

6 

7 

76 

81 

14.5 
49 
15 

153 
63 
6'J 
68 
70 
71 

124 

129 
10 
71 
40 

131 
30 
38 

119 

119 
10 
20 



Fibres of SouthDown and Leicester 21 



Fineness of 

Form of the Fibre 

found on other Animals 

Gradual Change of Hair to 

Influence of Temperature on 

Pasture, Influence of on 

Properties of 

Serrated Edge of 

Softiiess of . 

Soundness of 

Spirally-Curling Firm of 

Trueness of 
Yeaning-Tirae . 
Yolk, the 

Chymical Analysis of 
Zoological Character of the Sheep 



13 
12 
10 
11 
14 
13 
13 
19 
16 
15 
18 
15 
tlO 
11 
13 
3 



MEDICINES USED IN THE TREATMENT OF THE DISEASES OF SHEEf 

Alcohol f Spirit of WineJ.—'in tlie sliecp as well as in rattle, everj- kind of fever, 
and every kind of inflammation is apt to take on a typhoid or maliirnant form, and therefore 
we are accustomed, even while we are combating inHammation, "to add a siimnlant to our 
piirfrative. The cuticular coat of the rumen into \«iich the greater part of ihe medicine 
too often finds its way, renders it necessary to add some stimulant to rouse this stomacli to 
the discharsre of its contents; therefore ale, gin, tincture of gentian, iVc, are. in small quan- 
tities, added, if the evident existence of inflammation or fever does not forbid it. 

Aloes, as a purgative, is vei->- uncertain in the sh(>ep, and sometimes dangerous. It has 
been given in doses of one ounce and a half without the slisjhtest effect. Two ounces 
have destroyed the .sheep, not by superpurgation, but by direct inflammation. Tlie tinc- 
ture of aloes, l)owever, is a very u.seful, stimulaliiig. and healing application to wounds. 
Two ounces of powdered aloes, and a quarter of an ounce of powdei-ed myrrh, should bo 
macerated in a pint of rectified spirit, diluted with an equal quantity of water. This will 
be found particularly useful in foot-rot when the caustic has eaten away the fungus, and 
the chloride of lime has removed the tendency to mortification. 

Alteratives — The old alterative powder for horses and cattle will be very useful in 
the cutaneoH.s diseases of sheep. It is composed of jEthiop's mineral, nitre, and sulphur, 
in the proportions of one, two, and four — about two drams being the average dose, and to 
be given daily until the disease is cured. 

Alum.— Used as an astringent in diarrhoea of lambs, but far inferior to Sheep's Cordial. 

Antimony. — One preparation of it alone is in any considerable repute, the chloride, or 
Dutyr, in cases of foot rot, as described under the treatment of that disease. 

Cami'Hok. — U,';ed externally in the form of oil for strains and swellings of the joints. 

Catechu— An extract from the wood of one of the Acacia trees: an excellent astrin- 
gent. It is one of the ingredients in the '• Sheep and Calves' Cordial." 

Chalk — A valuable antiacid, and also an ina:redient in the " Sheep's Cordial." 

Digitalis (Fox Glov-e). — A valuable sedative, entering into most fever medicines. 

Epsom Sali s. — Tlie very best purgative that can be administered to sheep, and in fact 
almost super.-.eding every other. The do,se from half an ounce to an ounce. 

Gentian. — Tlie best vegetable tonic, superseding every other. Dose one to two arams. 

GiNGEii.-—Au excellent stomachic and tonic, and forming an ingredient in almost every 
aperient drink. Dose, from half a dram to a dram. 

Iodine. — Often used with good effect, in the form of ointment, to disperse indurated tu- 
mors, and particularly in the udder. The preparation of iodine thus used is the hydriodate 
of potash, one dram of th« compound to seven of lard. 

Lime. — The chloride of lime has great value as a disinfectant, and is given in small quan- 
tities to get riil of the gas in cases of hoove. 

Linseed Oil. — Used occasionally as a purgative when the Epsom salts will not act, or 
when great intestinal irritation is expected. Dose, from two to three ounces. 

Mercury. — Mercurial ointment when rubbed down with from five to seven parts of 
lard, is a safe and almost certain cure for the scab. 

Myrkh. — A valuable addition to the tincture of aloes, as an application to wounds. 

Nitrate or Silver. — An invaluable caustic for wounds inflicted by a mad-dog, or 
infected by any kind of poison. 

Nitre. — An ingredient in the usual fever medicine. The dose rarely exceeds a dram. 

Opium. — An ingredient in the "Sheep and Calves' Cordial." A colic drink would 
have little effect without it ; and if opium were omitted in the medicines for diarrhoea and 
dysentery, every other drug would be given in vain. 

Salt. — Common salt, has an excellent eflect in promoting the condition of the animal, 
when occasionally sprinkled over its food, or placed within its react). It is the basis of ev- 
ery medicine yet produced, which really has power over the rot. and in the early stage oi 
that disease, has completely arrested its fatal progress. 

Sulphur is a good aperient, in doses of one lo two ounces. It is more valuable, how- 
ever, as keeping the bowels in a rela.xed state when they have been opened by other med- 
icines. It is tl:e basis of every ointment for the cure of mange, and is useful in the conj- 
iHon scab. It enters also into the composition of the best alterative powders. 

Tar is used with butter for salving the sheep in cold and exposed situations. It is also 
BOmetinies uised for marking sheep, and is a very useful dressing in fuol-rot. 

Spirit of Tar. — A useful application to the feet in foot rot. It also has great effect 
when applied to the parts that have been struck by the fly. It destroys the maggots al- 
ready formed, and no fly will deposite her eggs where this liquid has been used. 

Oil and Spirit of Turpentine. — These are often very useful applications to wounds, 
and especially those of long standing. They also prevent the attack of the fly. Comnioa 
turpentine is added to milder ointments, in order to make them somewhat stimulatijig, 
and give them a digestive character. 

Zinc. — The carbonate of it is mixed with lard, in the proportion of one dram lo oevea. 
*cd makes a very excellent pmoUieut and healing ointmeul. 



